Obama seeks Iowa newspaper endorsement

President Obama asked TheDes Moines Register for its endorsement in an interview that the White House had initially put off the record.

"I'm very proud of what we've accomplished over the last four years," Obama told the newspaper's leaders. "A lot of it was responding to the most severe economic emergency we've had since the Great Depression."

In outlining a second-term agenda that includes manufacturing, education, energy and new budget priorities, Obama said he wants to "make sure that the economy is growing, we're bringing down our deficit and we're creating jobs."

The Register had protested the campaign's demand that the interview be kept off the record.

Editor Rick Green wrote in a note to readers, "Just two weeks before Election Day, the discussion, I believe, would have been valuable to all voters, but especially those in Iowa and around the country who have yet to decide between the incumbent Democrat and his Republican opponent.

"Unfortunately," he said, "what we discussed was off-the-record. It was a condition, we were told, set by the White House."

TheRegister will announce its endorsement in the presidential race Saturday night. That could be a key event in a tight race in Iowa between Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.

The newspaper did have an in-person interview with Romney.

More from Green on the Obama interview:

"It was a 'personal call' to the Register's publisher and editor, we were told. The specifics of the conversation could not be shared because it was off-the-record.

"Of course, we immediately lobbied his campaign staff in Des Moines for a formal, on-the-record call. We were told it was not their decision; it came from the White House. We requested that the White House be asked to reverse course so whatever the president shared with us could be reviewed by voters and our readers.

"No reason was given for the unusual condition of keeping it private.

"We relented and took the call. How could we not? It's the leader of the free world on line one.

"And as we weigh with our editorial board this critical decision about who to endorse, it was necessary for us to discuss the challenges confronting our state, nation and world with the president -- even when handcuffed by rules related to what could be shared."