NH’s Most Influential Paper to Make GOP Primary Endorsment Sunday

The New Hampshire Union Leader, the Granite State’s most influential paper, will announce which GOP candidate it will endorse in Sunday’s paper.

The paper tweeted the pending endorsement this afternoon, teasing the announcement: “Which primary candidate will get the Union Leader’s endorsement? Find out in this week’s NH Sunday News.”

In 2007, the paper endorsed Sen. John McCain in the Republican primary. McCain then went on to win the state’s primary.

In the 2010 Senate primary, the Union Leader backed Ovide LaMontagne over now-Sen. Kelly Ayotte. While LaMontagne has yet to endorse a candidate this cycle, Ayotte threw her weight behind Mitt Romney last weekend.

Romney recently dined with the Union Leader’s publisher, Joe McQuaid, at a Manchester, N.H., holiday fundraiser co-hosted by the paper.

The former Massachusetts governor also met with McQuaid in October.

Several of the other GOP candidates, including Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Rick Santorum and former speaker Newt Gingrich, held meetings with either McQuaid or the full editorial board during the past few months.

Businessman Herman Cain, who initially cancelled his meeting with the paper’s editorial board, is scheduled to sit down for an interview later this week.