Hillary Clinton Campaign Press Release - NH's Four Cabinet Press Weekly Newspapers Endorse Hillary Clinton for President

Weekly papers endorsed John Kerry in 2004

MANCHESTER, NH - The Cabinet Press, which includes four weekly newspapers with a circulation of 31,000 in nine towns across southern New Hampshire, today endorsed Hillary Clinton for President.

In their endorsement editorial, the Cabinet Press wrote that "Sen. Clinton, as President Hillary Clinton, will ensure that those who most need a health care boost will get it," adding that "Hillary Clinton is a tough, smart, courageous, compassionate and sometimes blunt senator who will be a good president in a time that requires the kind of backbone she possesses."

The four Cabinet Press newspapers include: the Milford Cabinet, Bedford Journal, Hollis Brookline Journal and Merrimack Journal. The weeklies endorsed John Kerry in 2004.

The Cabinet Press endorsement editorial follows:

We have long believed that Sen. Hillary Clinton was the best standard-bearer for her party and even the rise of the charismatic Barack Obama has not changed that opinion.

There are those who believe that Sen. Clinton is polarizing but if she is, it is only because a strong person engenders strong emotions. That is not a bad thing.

Sen. Clinton is strong in all the areas that we believe to be important:

Health care, national defense, the Iraq war, and a woman's right to choose to have an abortion. That is an issue not much discussed now, but there are candidates who are clearly not pro-choice and who would do their best to ensure that the Supreme Court has the votes to overturn Roe v. Wade.

While it is true that Sen. Obama and former Sen. John Edwards have, in general, views that are similar to those of Sen. Clinton, particularly on what we believe should be the right of Americans to health care, we are convinced that because of her experience, her trials by fire, and her toughness, she will deliver. She learned, we believe, a valuable lesson in the early 1990s when President Bill Clinton gave her the unenviable task of trying to formulate a health care plan that would be acceptable to the health care industry and to politicians. She failed, and some of that was her fault, but not all of it: The nation wasn't ready for universal health care. That has changed. Sen. Clinton, as President Hillary Clinton, will ensure that those who most need a health care boost will get it.

And as much as Sen. Clinton wants the U.S. out of Iraq, we believe she will take a prudent approach to bringing our troops home. She understands that we cannot abandon Iraq, that we cannot leave behind those who have stood with us. Out? You bet, but safely and sanely. Yes, Sen. Clinton made a mistake in voting to authorize George W. Bush's foolish war, but so did a lot of others. She operated on the available information, as did many others, and she was wrong. Sen. Obama, when an Illinois state senator, spoke out against the war and he was right. But it is impossible to know how he would have stood had he been, at the time, a U.S. senator rather than a state senator. Perspectives changes as one rises in the power structure.

On a lesser known, but important point, the senator plans to have colleges pledge not to hike tuition over a student's term and to increase Pell grants. For middle class families, that's important and it shows the senator's commitment to those who, while certainly not poor, surely aren't rich.

Hillary Clinton is a tough, smart, courageous, compassionate and sometimes blunt senator who will be a good president in a time that requires the kind of backbone she possesses.

We hope Democrats will choose her on Jan. 8.