I'm not really surprised

At the top of this hour (4.00pm Phoenix time), The Arizona Republic released their recommendation for who they believe should be the 44th President of the United States.

Yes, you guessed it: Arizona's John McCain.

Surprised? I'm not. If memory serves, the paper generally has endorsed incumbents to be reelected; if there isn't an incumbent, then the Republican candidate gets the nod. It endorsed the then Gov. George Bush in 2000 and endorsed his reelection campaign four years later. Conversely, it endorsed (I believe) Matt Salmon (R) for governor in 2002 over the then state Attorney General Janet Napolitano but the Republic endorsed Napolitano in 2006. For all of the state's ballot propositions that it has issued a recommendation, it has recommended "no" save for one: Proposition 300 (legislators' pay raise).

But something above this history: what would the reaction have been if the Republic didn't endorse their hometown candidate? What would have happened if they endorsed Barack Obama, and in the style of the Friday endorsement by The New York Times?

Food for thought.

Cheers-
Edward Jensen