Media Monitor: Obama leads endorsement race, online ad sales slow, and Letterman to host “squirrelly” McCain

Obama leads news endorsements: With about three weeks to go ’til election day, newspapers are rolling out their political endorsements, and with a flurry of nods for Obama yesterday, the Illinois senator has a commanding lead. Sixteen papers published endorsements of Obama over the weekend, including the Madison-based Wisconsin State Journal and the San Bernardino Sun (which both sided with Bush last time around), while two printed endorsements for John McCain. Tally so far: Obama 27, McCain 11. Why it matters: Editor & Publisher says that in 2004 its look at endorsements “accurately predicted the outcome in 14 of the 15 key battleground states based solely on the endorsements.” Around 300 papers have yet to weigh in.

Online ad sales slow: The New York Times’ Stephanie Clifford writes that one of the few bright spots in economic forecasts for the print news industry — online ad sales — is darkening. Papers have been rushing to bring on features like blogs and original web video in hopes of increasing online advertising dollars — and for 17 quarters they’ve enjoyed growth. ‘Til now: the second quarter of 2008 saw a 2.4 percent dip compared to last year. Related, one of the more interesting local reads on the changing mediascape is offered by Mediation’s Taylor Carik.

Late Night with John McCain? After blowing off David Letterman to go save the economy appear on Katie Couric’s show, John McCain will appear on “The Late Show” this Thursday night — that is, if McCain sticks to the plan. “Now in an attempt to save his campaign, they’re talking about coming back,” Letterman said late last week. He says McCain has asked to do the show a half hour early and “we kind of already changed our schedule to save the economy…. I just don’t know if we can trust him.”

“This just in”: Shanai Matteson captures a not-earth-shattering PiPress cover, and a doctored USA Today box conveys one view of front-page news these days.