Early voting is in its second week and still no presidential endorsement from the state’s largest newspaper. So why has the Albuquerque Journal waited so long to endorse?

Some people think the Journal is waiting because there’s a chance it just might endorse Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. Well, if it did, this would be a Chicago Tribune-type moment for New Mexico. The Journal hasn’t endorsed a Democrat for president in recent memory. I’m checking to see if the Journal endorsed Kennedy. Nobody seems to remember and the Journal’s archives online only go back as far as 1995. In 1996, the Journal endorsed Bob Dole.

One former Journal-ite said he didn’t think the paper had ever endorsed a Democrat for a high office. But we did find that in 1994, the Journal endorsed Bruce King over Gary Johnson. After Johnson won, of course, they endorsed him in his second term.

Word is filtering in on other high-office Democrat endorsements by the Journal. We mentioned the Journal’s editorial board has endorsed King, it has also given the nod to Bill Richardson in his Congressional race, and it endorsed him in his bid for president as well. The Journal also has endorsed Tom Udall for Attorney General and in his CD3 race. The Journal has endorsed Jeff Bingaman in the Senate.

But for president, we’re not sure if the Journal has ever endorsed a Democrat. In any case, it’s odd that the Journal has not made the endorsement for this election, especially if it is hoping to help inform voters of the issues. With one in five New Mexicans already having voted early, the Journal’s influence is dwindling.