Lamenting a presidential campaign lacking in issues and calling the two candidates Tom Thumb, The Hartford Courant Tuesday endorsed George Bush for president.
'If leadership is measured by who levels with the people and who fires them with ideas, the two candidates are Tom Thumb.'
The Courant said the memorable features of the 1988 campaign are 'the mush of platitudes and the rubbish of negative messages.'
In a campaign lacking in issues, the Courant said neither candiate 'has persuasively addressed the overriding issue of our time, the seemingly unmanagable budget deficit.'
In a lengthy editorial, the Courant said Bush 'worked to dispel his image as a wimpy, whiny and lackluster leader, while his opponent chugged along as the cautious, parsimonious and sanctimonious public servant.'
Bush also picked up the endorsement Tuesday of The Forum newspaper in Fargo, N.D., which said, 'Few people in American history have been as prepared for the presidency.'
'Bush is admirably suited to continue the best policies of the Reagan years,' the newspaper said in its editorial.
'Additionally, his tenure in government and his experiences in the private sector equip him to develop new approaches to solving problems the Reagan administration has been unable to solve.'
The newspaper also said Dukakis 'is an ideologue of the sort the American people have rejected time and again. Dukakis's history and record place him squarely in the discredited camp of George McGovern, Walter Mondale, and, to a lesser extent, Jimmy Carter.'
