Trump gets 1st major newspaper endorsement
With polls showing him sliding nationally, Donald Trump received a bit of welcome news on Sunday in one battleground state as the editorial page of Nevada’s largest newspaper, The Las Vegas ReviewJournal, endorsed him for president.
It is the first major newspaper to give Mr. Trump its blessing, though it was seen as coming with something of an asterisk: The ReviewJournal was bought late last year by the casino magnate and billionaire Sheldon Adelson, a Trump supporter and longtime Republican benefactor.
The editorial described Mr. Trump as flawed but nonetheless preferable to Hillary Clinton.
“Mr. Trump’s impulsiveness and overheated rhetoric alienate many voters,” its endorsement said. “He has trouble dealing with critics and would be wise to discover the power of humility.”
“But neither candidate will ever be called to the dais to accept an award for moral probity and character,” the editorial continued. “And we are already distressingly familiar with the Clinton way, which involves turning public service into an orgy of influence peddling and entitlement designed to line their own pockets — precisely what a disgruntled electorate now rises up to protest.”
The Review-Journal’s editorial page also rejected what it suggested was overwrought fear-mongering about Mr. Trump.
The endorsement comes at a time when Mr. Trump is in growing need of support: An ABC News tracking poll released on Sunday showed Ms. Clinton beating him nationally by 12 percentage points.
The poll — conducted in the days after the Republican nominee called his Democratic rival a “nasty woman” during last week’s presidential debate, and a day after adult film star Jessica Drake became the 11th woman to step forward in recent weeks alleging the New York billionaire of sexual misconduct — also showed Ms. Clinton with a 55 percent-35 percent lead over Mr. Trump among women.
Ms. Clinton has stacked up newspaper endorsements, including from unlikely quarters in Phoenix, Dallas and Cincinnati.
Until Sunday, the biggest newspapers to endorse Mr. Trump were the Santa Barbara, Calif., News-Press and St. Joseph, Mo., News-Press.
In a rare admission of fallibility by the typically boastful Mr. Trump, his campaign acknowledged he’s trailing Ms. Clinton as Election Day nears.
Still, Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway added, “We’re not giving up.”
Ms. Conway laid out Mr. Trump’s potential path to winning: victories in Florida, Iowa, North Carolina, Nevada and Ohio, to start.
If Mr. Trump prevents Arizona and Georgia from falling to Democrats and adds in some combination of Colorado, Virginia, New Hampshire and Pennsylvania, he could reach the 270 electoral votes needed, Ms. Conway said.
Ms. Clinton also has been focusing on many of those same states — chiefly Ohio, Florida and North Carolina, where Sunday she urged black congregants in a Durham Baptist church to vote early.
She also has been targeting Hispanics to keep Nevada blue.
And with preference polls tightening in Arizona, Ms. Clinton’s campaign now sees that state as a late addition to the list of closely contested states.
Meanwhile, Ms. Clinton’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia, and Vice President Joe Biden were getting set to bridge deep divides laid bare by this bitter presidential campaign.
Mr. Kaine said he and Ms. Clinton have already talked about how to heal the nation should they win the election.
And Mr. Biden over the weekend said he will continue his effort to convince Democrats not to give up on white working-class voters who were once the party’s core, and whose support has fueled the insurgent candidacy of Mr. Trump.