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Opinion: About the San Diego Union-Tribune’s Fiorina endorsement

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Those of you who aren’t regular readers of Times editorials but caught the San Diego Union-Tribune’s endorsement Sunday of GOP Senate hopeful Carly Fiorina may be under the false impression that we endorsed likewise. The Union-Tribune’s editorial opens thusly:

Given that the observation has been forthcoming from such sources as the editorial pages of the San Francisco Chronicle and Los Angeles Times, it is not a partisan potshot to note that Democrat Barbara Boxer has been ineffective as a California senator. After 18 years in the Senate, Boxer deserves the thanks of Californians for her service, but not reelection. As the Chronicle observed, “There is no reason to believe that another six-year term would bring anything but more of the same uninspired representation.”
Though The Times’ editorial in support of Boxer wasn’t all sanguine about her reelection, noting briefly that her influence in the Senate is not commensurate with her seniority, the board by no means issued a half-hearted endorsement of the incumbent. The piece praised Boxer for being right on nearly every issue for which she has cast a vote -- the most important job of a senator -- and criticized Fiorina for reflecting the ‘doctrinaire conservatism that is ascendant in the Republican Party.’ The Union-Tribune could have at least noted that The Times endorsed Boxer and that the San Francisco Chronicle withheld its support from either candidate.

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Misrepresentation aside, it’s a bit cheap for a paper to make its case by selectively citing less politically conservative editorial pages. The Union-Tribune doesn’t need The Times’ help in persuading people whom to vote for -- especially not when we disagree.

-- Paul Thornton

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