The Des Moines Register’s political endorsements

For the past week, it seems like every political blog has been covering who will get the Des Moines Register’s endorsement for the upcoming primary. Why is one particular news media so important in a campaign? Why did Bill Clinton spend hours in the editorial office of the Des Moines register currying favor for his wife?

The Des Moines Register is “The Newspaper Iowa Depends On.” It’s not just the daily for Des Moines — it’s delivered all over the state every day. I have family in Centerville, Iowa (population 5,924) way down in southern Iowa. They all read the Register, and barely glance over their local weekly. The Sunday circulation is well over 230,000, and in an age of declining newspaper readership, that’s doing pretty good.

The Des Moines Register has a reputation as a Democratic paper. From 1903 to 1985, it was owned by the Cowles family, many members of which wound up holding high positions in various Democratic presidential administrations. This actually reflects Iowa population, which has a tendency to edge just a bit to the left.

In other words, the Register really is a major authority in Iowa. Their endorsements for both the Democratic and Republican candidacies hold a lot of sway, although more so for Democrats. Their endorsement will reach most of the 1.8 million voters in the state, and will have far more sway than an ad bought by some campaign. Most Iowans will see the endorsement (whether or not they agree with it) as formed by some of the best-informed people in the state.