MediaNews Group chief executive Dean Singelton says he doesn’t dictate political endorsements to his 54 daily newspapers. That might be because Singleton, a major Bush backer, has a silent partner, 95-year-old Richard Scudder, who calls Bush an “idiot” and favors Democrats. Whatever the reason, Singleton tells E&P that he expects many of his papers will endorse Barack Obama. Singleton says he’s undecided: “I am having trouble with this one.” He said he favored Hillary Clinton over Obama during the Democratic primaries. E&P repeats Singleton’s claim that he “does not try to influence his newspapers’ endorsements. As publisher of The Denver Post and The Salt Lake Tribune, he sits on their editorial boards so he has a say in their choices, which usually swing to the GOP side. But, citing the Post’s 2000 endorsement of Al Gore, he said his own preference is not always taken by them.” In the photo above, Singleton was talking to Belo chairman Burl Osborne at the AP Annual Meeting on May 7, 2007. (Photo credit: Richard Drew, AP)