What’s that old saying? Oh yeah, “It’s the economy, stupid.” I guess that’s what the editors of the left leaning Orlando Sentinel were thinking when they endorsed Mitt Romney. It’s another case of “We don’t like this guy all that much, but Obama has been so awful he’s the best choice.”

Romney is not our ideal candidate for president. We’ve been turned off by his appeals to social conservatives and immigration extremists. Like most presidential hopefuls, including Obama four years ago, Romney faces a steep learning curve on foreign policy.

But the core of Romney’s campaign platform, his five-point plan, at least shows he understands that reviving the economy and repairing the government’s balance sheet are imperative — now, not four years in the future.

Romney has a strong record of leadership to run on. He built a successful business. He rescued the 2002 Winter Olympics from scandal and mismanagement. As governor of Massachusetts, he worked with a Democrat-dominated legislature to close a $3billion budget deficit without borrowing or raising taxes, and pass the health plan that became a national model.

This is Romney’s time to lead, again. If he doesn’t produce results — even with a hostile Senate — we’ll be ready in 2016 to get behind someone else who will.

Read the whole thing, as it also details how President Obama failed to work with Congress and to embrace the Simpson-Bowles Commission recommendations. He appointed the panel, then dissed it.

This isn’t the first left-leaning paper to endorse Romney, as noted at Big Journalism.

On the heels of Wednesday’s endorsement of Mitt Romney by the traditionally liberal Nashville Tennessean, another longtime left-leaning newspaper– the Orlando Sentinel – has also endorsed President Barack Obama’s Republican challenger. TheSentinel’s endorsement will have a greater impact, since it comes from one of the largest newspapers in the key swing state of Florida.

As I noted at Sulia, the next two and a half weeks are going to be really interesting.