Obama gets Chicago Tribune endorsement

CHICAGO, Oct. 17 (UPI) -- The Chicago Tribune Friday endorsed Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, in its first ever endorsement of a Democratic presidential candidate.

In its endorsement, the newspaper said Obama is the "strongest candidate" to address the nation's economic woes and "lead us through a perilous time and restore in us a common sense of national purpose."

The Tribune, which had never before endorsed a Democratic candidate for president, encouraged Obama in December 2006 to enter the 2008 presidential race. "We said his intellectual depth would sharpen the policy debate. In the ensuing 22 months he has done just that," the Tribune said Friday.

The editorial acknowledges that some voters may have apprehensions about Obama.

"We have known Obama since he entered politics a dozen years ago. We have watched him, worked with him, argued with him as he rose from an effective state senator to an inspiring U.S. senator to the Democratic Party's nominee for president," the endorsement said.

As for Obama's Republican opponent, Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Tribune said the newspaper likes McCain, whom they endorsed in the Republican primary.

"It is, though, hard to figure John McCain these days," the newspaper said. "He argued that President Bush's tax cuts were fiscally irresponsible, but he now supports them. He promises a balanced budget by the end of his first term, but his tax cut plan would add an estimated $4.2 trillion in debt over 10 years. He has responded to the economic crisis with an angry, populist message and a misguided, $300 billion proposal to buy up bad mortgages."