Brush away all the rhetoric, all the vitriol, all the divisiveness from the presidential campaign. To most Americans, only one thing matters — the economy.

Four years into Barack Obama’s presidency, economic growth is sputtering. Family incomes are down. Poverty is up. Business owners are reluctant to assume risk in the face of unending uncertainty. Many are holding on by their fingernails, desperate for signs of an economic recovery that will help them provide for themselves, their employees, their customers and their communities.

When President Obama came into office in 2009, the economy was in freefall and though untested, he inspired us with his promise of hope and change. Now, four years later, we have little reason to believe he can turn things around.

So while we endorsed Obama in 2008, we recommend voters choose Republican Mitt Romney on Nov. 6.

Yes, the jobless numbers from September showed a drop to 7.8 percent unemployed, the first time in almost four years that it’s been below 8 percent. But the numbers are deceiving because more than 4 million Americans have given up looking for work since January 2009. . .

. . . The president had enormous opportunity when he took office, with Democrats controlling both houses of Congress. But he failed to focus on Job One: Jobs.

Oddly, the Salt Lake Tribune, one of the largest papers in heavily Republican Utah (maybe the largest, I don't know), has endorsed Obama and slammed Romney pretty hard.

Actually, that's not odd. Large newspapers tend to be liberal and are part of the main stream media that has supported leftist candidates from day one, even in conservative areas.

But a leftist newspaper like the Chronicle (the largest newspaper in Texas) who has supported Obama in the past, to turn right, is akin to a rain of toads!