Los Angeles Times endorses McCain, Obama

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - The Los Angeles Times editorial board said on Friday it endorses Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama for the presidential primary election in the paper's first presidential endorsements since 1972.

The liberal newspaper, the largest on the U.S. West Coast, said McCain's "conservatism is, if not always to our liking, at least genuine."

"It reflects his fundamental individualism, spanning his distrust of big government, his support for immigration reform and his insistence on a sound American foreign policy," the board said in an opinion piece that will run in Sunday's paper.

The paper says McCain's closest rival, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, "refuses to renounce torture, a position that for us disqualifies him."

The L.A. Times, with daily readership of 2.2 million and 3.2 million on Sundays, said either Obama or Sen. Hillary Clinton would make a strong nominee, but Obama is "most focused on steering the nation toward constructive change."

"His candidacy offers Democrats the best hope of leading America into the future, and gives Californians the opportunity to cast their most exciting and consequential ballot in a generation," the endorsement said.

Clinton has been far ahead of Obama in polls ahead of Tuesday's primary election in California, the nation's largest state with 15 million voters.