College papers overwhelmingly favor Obama

Barack Obama has garnered more than twice as many daily newspaper endorsements as John McCain, according to Editor and Publisher. But the results are even more lopsided for college newspapers: 65 to 1.

Of the 66 college newspapers counted in the E&P tally, only one -- The Daily Mississippian at the University of Mississippi -- endorsed McCain.

In its Oct. 28 endorsement, The Daily Mississippian agrees with McCain's argument that he is the more experienced of the two candidates.

"We feel Sen. McCain’s experience in foreign affairs and his decision to not raise taxes on anyone of any class of society makes him the clear choice for president," the editors write. "Sen. McCain has a history of stepping across party lines; the same cannot be said of Sen. Obama."

The editorial notes that the five editors on the editorial board were split on the decision.

The pro-McCain editorial was the most read story on The Daily Mississippian's Web site last week. At last count, 31 people had commented on it, offering a range of opinions.

Among the red-state college papers that endorsed Obama are The Louisville Cardinal at the University of Louisville, The Daily Gamecock at the University of South Carolina, the Daily Texan at the University of Texas-Austin, the Oklahoma Daily at the University of Oklahoma and The Optimist at Abeline Christian University. The Arizona Daily Wildcat at the University of Arizona, McCain's home state, also came out for Obama.

For a list of college newspaper endorsements, scroll down to the bottom of this article on E&P.

Obama pens column for The Daily Iowan

Readers of The Daily Iowan at the University of Iowa got a surprise when they turned to the opinion page Friday -- a guest column from none other than Barak Obama.

In the column, the Democratic presidential candidate shares his positions on health care, the environment and student loans.

"I'm running to make college more affordable for any American who wants to go," the column says. "I've proposed a $4,000 a year refundable tax credit that will cover two-thirds of the tuition at the average public college or university. And I'll strengthen our community colleges by offering new degrees for emerging fields and rewarding schools that graduate more students.

On Dec. 4, the Iowa State Daily, the student newspaper at Iowa State University, endorsed Obama. "Obama has not been afraid to throw a lot of his time and resources into trying to invigorate the younger crowd," the editors wrote. "This strategy has failed other candidates in the past, but we appreciate Obama's commitment to the generation who will inherit the country."

The Dec. 14 guest column is a part of Obama's strategy to court the college student vote for the Jan. 3 Iowa caucuses. Earlier this month Obama caught some flak from his opponents for urging Iowa students living out of state to cut their holidays short and return to school so they could participate in the Iowa caucuses, according to an article in The Daily Iowan.

Cardinal Courier site barraged by Paul supporters

Want to get people to read your online newspaper? Want to be flooded with comments? Write about presidential candidate Ron Paul.

Just look at what happened to the Cardinal Courier, the student newspaper at St. John Fisher College in Rochester, N.Y.

On Wednesday, the newspaper wrote an editorial criticizing the presidential candidate's performance in the Nov. 28 CNN/YouTube debate.

"I saw the debate," Editor-in-Chief Bill Kuchman wrote in the signed editorial. "I watched every minute of it. I heard every answer. While the results were a mixed bag, I know one thing for certain: Ron Paul is a waste of my time and trivializes the entire debate process."

The response was almost immediate.

"Within the first two hours of the article being available online, it had over 2,000 views," Kuchman wrote in a letter to The Student Newspaper Survival Blog Wednesday evening. "This was a lot for us considering our previous high for a day was just under 2,000. As of now, the article has close to 6,000 views and over 220 comments." (By Thursday evening there were 287 comments on the editorial.)

The Cardinal Courier staff did some research and found that DailyPaul.com, a site created by Paul booster Mike Nystrom, had picked up the article and was urging readers to comment against it.

"The comments not only defend Paul, but attack the character of our paper and of myself," Kuchman wrote in his letter to us. "The funny thing is that in the editorial, I talked about Paul supporters hijacking political discussion on sites like CNN and in response, that's exactly what they did to Cardinal Courier Online."

Kuchman asks: "Have any other newspapers run into this kind of thing? I'm sure the Cardinal Courier isn't the only one to wade into political arena now that we're less than a year away from the presidential election."

If you've had a similar experience with presidential politics or with a blog launching a campaign against your site, post a comment.

NPR interviews college newspaper editors

National Public Radio often interviews professional newspaper editors to take the pulse of public opinion on the issues of the day. On Saturday reporter Andrea Seabrook interviewed editors of three college newspaper editors to talk about how the presidential campaign is playing out on their campuses. She interviewed:

* David Montgomery, co-editor-in-chief of the Scarlet and Black at Grinnell College in Iowa
* Elise Waxenberg, executive editor of The Dartmouth at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
* Jess Davis, news editor for The Daily Gamecock at the University of South Carolina

It's great to see professional media seeing college editors as the knowledgeable and articulate sources many of them are.