In campaign news, the New York Times officially endorsed John Kerry for president yesterday in a editorial where it described the Bush presidency as “disastrous.” This brings the total number of papers backing Kerry to 45, according to Editor and Publisher. Other major papers backing Kerry include the Boston Globe, Miami Herald and San Francisco Chronicle. About 30 papers have backed Bush including the Chicago Tribune, Arizona Republic and Dallas Morning News. So far eight papers that backed Bush four years ago have opted to endorse Kerry. At one of those papers, the Tampa Tribune, the editors admitted they could no longer support Bush “because of his mishandling of the war in Iraq, his record deficit spending, his assault on open government and his failed promise to be a 'uniter not a divider' within the United States and the world.” Bush is the first Republican candidate not endorsed by the Tampa Tribune in 40 years.