Union Leader's clout on the wane?

By Brian C. Mooney, Globe Staff

The New Hampshire Union Leader's legendary clout apparently isn't what it used to be in the state's Republican presidential primary. The newspaper editorialized often, at times on its front page, in favor of Arizona Senator John McCain and against Mitt Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts who owns a vacation home on Lake Winnipesaukee.

On Tuesday, McCain beat Romney statewide by 13,000 votes, or 5.6 percentage points, but lost to the Bay Stater in the newspaper's core circulation area, which is the city of Manchester and five adjoining suburbs -- Bedford, Goffstown, Hooksett, Auburn, and Londonderry. The combined tally, taken from the Union Leader's website, was 12,131 for Romney and 11,737 for McCain.

McCain narrowly beat Romney, 5,119 to 4,935 in Manchester, 994 to 991 in Hooksett, and 507 to 479 in Auburn. Romney won the bigger, affluent towns of Bedford, 2,479 to 2,148; Goffstown, 1,258 to 1,212; and Londonderry, 1,989 to 1,757.

That's a striking contrast to 1980 when the newspaper waged a similar campaign in favor of Ronald Reagan in his race against George H.W. Bush. It's also indicative of the declining influence of newspaper endorsements in general.

In the 1980 New Hampshire presidential primary, Reagan beat Bush 50 percent to 23 percent statewide, or better than 2 to 1, with five other major candidates in the field. In the same Manchester-area communities, however, Reagan beat Bush by a combined margin of better than 7 to 1, and almost 8 to 1 in Manchester itself.

McCain, however, did liberally use the Union Leader's endorsement of him, and its anti-endorsement of Romney, in TV ads that aired across New Hampshire.