News-Record.com

my comments are about your credibility in endorsing candidates for the offices of president, us senator, and governor. we will soon read an article about the research etc that your editorial board does in order to make the best recommendation/endorsement for your readers. i have only been here since 1980, but can find no evidence that your ed board has EVER endorsed a non-democrat for these offices. i actually requested this info from your staff , but they "do not keep these records". ed williams of the charlotte observer recently addressed this issue in a column, and i hope you will. i'm sure mr snider could be of some help. this is not a "gotcha", but if you want credibility, be up front about your positions. if you haven't endorsed a non-democrat (for these 3 offices) in 50 years, why go to the pretense of reviewing records? for the record, i have already voted, i read 3 newspapers a day, and read the editorial columns of the washington post and ny times on line, and downloaded and read every court decision in the 2000 election turmoil. i guess i am just a political junkie , but i try to be knowledgable about all the issues. again, i believe you are sincere about your efforts, but your ed board is what it is, and i believe i could write the columns that will endorse kerry, bowles, and easley. why not try to think strategically about what is best for the country, rather than what will happen in the next 4 years? not much will change. the fact is we know what both burr and bowles will do. bowles will vote as daschle dictates, and burr will vote as frist/bush dictates. easley will win , and nothing will change in raleigh. when will we get a president that will means test social security and medicare so that we can afford to support the poor in a more meaningful way? when will we stop taxing income and investment and start taxing consumption, so that the underground economy will pay it's fair share(exclude food, drugs, rent and mortgages!)? term limits would help, but is probably dead. these are the issues, other than security, but your ed board will talk about social issues, tax breaks for the wealthy, prescription drugs, and a vp candidate that is so unqualified as to be laughable, but is from nc. please try to reach people other than those that are looking for the government to solve all their problems, and don't bother to educate themselves about the issues. having read the recent letters to the editor, that is probably asking too much! whatever! at least i didn't waste any ink. good luck and thanks!

Thanks, Bob. I'm not a member of our editorial board and have no voice in our paper's editorial policy. That's Allen Johnson's responsibility. However, I am confident that Allen reads this blog so he'll read your comments.

When I was in charge of the editorial page back in the 20th century, we endorsed plenty of Republicans, although not for the three races you stipulate. But I'd suggest that while they don't get the attention of the presidential, senatorial and gubernatorial races, the local offices from Congress on down have a huge impact on our daily lives and shouldn't be discounted.

Ah... while the picture in the paper puts a face to the story, it's apparent that the web-log tells us much more about John Robinson than even Mr. Cone (whose work I greatly admire) could have told us. You've now become human. I commend the N&R for this venture into the unknown as it will give voice to many you might have never heard from.

Oh sure, there will be those who hide behind anominity, using the comments of the blog to say things you'd never dare print in a mainstream daily, but even in those off-color remarks a hint of truth can sometimes be gleaned. And the community-building abilities of the daily web-log are the sort of thing that newspapers have needed for over half a century.

The N&R is aready profiting from the web-logs, perhaps in ways we don't yet know how to measure, but profit just the same.

Your thanks are appreciated, but my motives are selfish: I love good newspapers, and I love my hometown. Thanks to you and your team for doing what you are doing.

As far as the mysterious editor angle, there's no question that your blog makes you much more of a personality to readers than your column does...as professionals, we have to stop sometimes to remember how opaque the operations of the paper often seem to its customers.