Editor in Chief

If you saw the opinions page on Monday, maybe you thought The Daily Collegian wanted to get in on the "endorsement fever." Maybe we saw Chuck Norris advertisements for Huckabee one too many times and declared, if he can do it, so can we.

Well, that wasn't exactly the thought process in our basement on Burrowes Street, though we're pretty convinced we could do a mean roundhouse kick. We endorse (or anti-endorse) a candidate for student government every year. Sometimes they win, sometimes they don't. In years past, I just focused on fitting the multiple interviews and lively debate into my schedule.

But this year, as the editor-in-chief, I didn't have the luxury of just numbly accepting the status quo. So as election time rolled around, I began thinking about the rationale behind the process.

Endorsing a political candidate is common, especially in local races. Newspapers have an obligation to the readers as their public servant. The editorial board has an opportunity to do what few private citizens can -- sit down with the candidate with no cameras, no audiences, no interferences -- and fire off questions that the candidate can't dodge or ignore or refuse to answer.

Sometimes journalists see a side of a candidate that the public rarely does. Whether that's just the nature of the relationship between the candidate and the media, I'm not sure. But you can learn just as much, if not more, about a candidate when he or she doesn't have a script to follow.

It is also important to remember that it is the editorial board -- not the reporters -- choosing the candidate that in their minds will best represent the public.

I've always had an unsettling feeling that people can't separate a board of editors and a reporter. Thus, the editorial only fuels accusations of bias. Because isn't it a newspaper's duty to be balanced, above all?

And for almost every single page in our paper it is. But on the opinion page, we get a chance to express just that -- our opinion. It's our chance to draw conclusions from the facts and present them to you, the readers.

Plus, in a 10-day election cycle, you probably don't have time to attend multiple debates at the HUB or track down the candidates between classes to get their stance on tuition increases. Some of you may not even know there is a student government race underway.

So we tried to help. We probed the candidates on their platforms in case you couldn't. And using all the information we learned, we chose the team we think will serve you, the students, best.

And there's a perfect outlet for you to express whether you agree or disagree: log on to elections.psu.edu today and vote.

After all, Chuck Norris can do it -- before counting to infinity. Twice.