The Montgomery Advertiser made its pick for President today. Unfortunately, they go through a lot of effort to preface their pick, like it will make any difference. I’m certain the charges of “liberal bias” have already rained down all over our capital city.

It is only about 48 hours until voters start casting ballots on election day, and still all the scientific polling being conducted nationally and in key battleground states cannot definitely tell who will win the race for the presidency. That is a testament to just how evenly divided this nation is politically.

But the partisan lines are drawn much differently in Alabama. Here, the polls clearly show that George W. Bush is not only very likely to win, but to win by a comfortable margin. That political leaning is also likely to be reflected in Republican wins in most congressional seats and in the U.S. Senate.

But editorial endorsements are not about picking along party lines; in fact, the Montgomery Advertiser strives to avoid being identified with either political party. That is reflected in both past and current endorsements. For instance, four of the five most recent presidential endorsements by this newspaper went to Republicans, and out of 19 endorsements made by the Montgomery Advertiser in this general election cycle, 11 went to Republicans and eight to Democrats.

Editorial endorsements also are not about picking winners; they are about picking the candidates that this newspaper’s editorial board thinks would best serve the public. And when it comes to the presidency, that is John Kerry.

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