The Curse of Newspaper Endorsements?

(CBS)

GREENVILLE, N.C. -- In sports, it's the dreaded Campbell's Chunky Soup Curse or the Sports Illustrated cover curse, the belief that any athlete who endorses the product or poses for the cover will end up getting injured, since many of the players who did, ended up hurt. In politics, can it be the curse of the newspaper editorial board endorsement?

Except for the New York Times and the Concord Monitor endorsements, the last time Hillary Clinton received the backing of a major newspaper, she lost the state (even the New York Times didn't help in neighboring Connecticut). The only other major newspaper to endorse Clinton in recent months was the Des Moines Register, a coveted endorsement for presidential hopefuls in Iowa, but one that led to a third place finish for Clinton there. Perhaps it is better to look at it from the angle that almost every time Clinton has lost the endorsement of any major newspaper, she has won the state. Consequently, almost every time Barack Obama won a newspaper endorsement, he lost the state.

Obviously, it is not a perfect science, but Clinton did lose the endorsements of several papers: The Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Pittsburgh Gazette, The Dallas Morning Star, and The Houston Chronicle and The Columbus (OH) Dispatch, The Albuquerque Journal, and The Boston Globe. She went on to win the states where those papers are located.

Today, The Indianapolis Star endorsed Clinton, a move that is being celebrated by the campaign but one that begs the question: Will the endorsement cost Clinton the state of Indiana?

With the election tightening every day and the May 6th primaries in Indiana and North Carolina the next major contests Clinton needs to win, even the least superstitious person may agree, the endorsement comes at a tricky time on the trail. Given the track record, the Indy Star endorsement may have been one she would have rather ceded to Barack Obama.