• Editor & Publisher, Wednesday, November 5, 2008 10:15 AM

Experts, pundits and gasbags of every stripe turned to all sorts of data to predict the outcome of swing states in the days leading up to the election. But E&P, doing what has worked for the publication before, made its predictions based entirely on newspaper endorsements. And it did pretty well.

Using the number, circulation and influence of newspapers endorsing the different candidates, E&P managed to get 10 of 11 swing states right. The magazine wrongly called Virginia for McCain, but explains the misstep by saying it underestimated the impact of The Washington Post on the northern part of that state.

E&P began this experiment in 2004, when it picked 14 of the 15 races accurately, missing only Florida. What does it all mean? Hard to say, but let's face it: Any news suggesting that newspapers still hold influence over regular people is a good thing for that industry these days.

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