It's a wonder Mitt Romney ever thought he could win the endorsement of the conservative Union Leader when you read the newspaper's scathing indictment of him in 2008.

On New Year's Day in 2008, the newspaper published an editorial, "Mitt's Flips; Why they matter," which cursed out Romney for his term as governor of Massachusetts:

"In Massachusetts he was pro-choice, then pro-life, then pro-choice, then pro-life again. ... He was even more pro-gay rights than Ted Kennedy, for strict gun-control laws, for affirmative action, against the Boy Scouts' policy on homosexual scoutmasters, for what he now calls 'amnesty' for illegal immigrants, and against the Bush tax cuts."

Publisher Joseph W. McQuaid came with another 1-2 punch the next day, with a front-page editorial Jan. 2, 2008, "With gloves off, Romney distorts," which slugs Romney:

"One of the reasons this newspaper has endorsed U.S. Sen. John McCain over former Gov. Mitt Romney has become clearer in recent days: When the campaigning gets serious and the gloves come off, McCain sticks to the facts; Romney plays loose with them."

And, on Jan. 3, 2008, the New Hampshire Union Leader's editorial page attacked again under an editorial headlined, "On foreign affairs; No time for a novice." 

"At this moment in history, we don't need a President for whom foreign affairs is a foreign subject."

Then, on Jan. 6, 2008 – two days before the 2008 New Hampshire Primary – the newspaper had two editorials, one praising John McCain, one vilifying Mitt Romney. The headline? "New Hampshire is still not for sale," in which the publisher calls McCain the "real deal."

"Meanwhile, Big Media and party fat cats are discovering in Mitt Romney what their predecessors found with Nelson Rockefeller, John Connally, and others: Money may get you a seat at the table, but it still doesn't buy New Hampshire."

The 2008 editorial attacks on Romney hit their target, swinging the race to McCain, said Rich Killion, a political consultant in New Hampshire who is not affiliated with a presidential campaign at this point. "It was devastating," he recalled.

This much is clear, McQuaid relishes his role as publisher/street fighter in the first-in-the-nation primary. Three days after he spilled ink to endorse Newt Gingrich, people have talked about whether newspaper endorsements matter in 2012, whether the state's largest newspaper has any lead left in its pencil, and whether the ghost of Bill Loeb is in the attic rattling chains.

The thing is, as shown in 2008, the Union Leader does not stop at writing an attaboy editorial for a presidential candidate.

"We just don't do one endorsement," Andrew Cline, editorial page editor for the newspaper, said in an interview Tuesday. In another breath, he said with a touch of modesty that, as a New Hampshire newspaper, "we have very little influence outside of New Hampshire."

Cline, who is being interviewed by media outlets across the country this week, left off our conversation by saying, "we don't pretend that the endorsement is a king-making endeavor."

The true value of the endorsement remains to be seen. Cline said we shall see, perhaps, when the campaign unfolds over the next six weeks.

So far, the paper's boss is pleasantly surprised by all the national attention. Cline attributes it to the Web and the many new voices online, which "amplifies the buzz." It's the timing, too. The endorsement comes, just like McCain four years ago, as Gingrich is enjoying a comeback. 

But is the splash and buzz also related to a slow news day?

That question comes from Tom Haines, who teaches journalism at the University of New Hampshire in Durham. He is among those surprised at the media buzz around the Gingrich endorsement. It is impressive, Haines said, that the newspaper endorsement bobbed its way to the top of Internet traffic when "so many people are saying so many things" online. 

Rule of thumb in the old press world: Everybody's an editor.

Rule of thumb in today's evolving media universe: Everybody's an editorial writer.

John F.J. Sullivan, editor-in-chief of the New Hampshire Live Free or Die Alliance, said the endorsement may only help Gingrich by 3 to 5 points. 

Fergus Cullen, a former state Republican Party chairman who volunteers a bimonthly column in the Union Leader, said it depends on how hard the newspaper goes after other presidential candidates.

"It is," he said of the Gingrich endorsement, "a Good Housekeeping Seal of approval for conservatives."

It is, for Romney, a sign of stormy days ahead. And that may just be a conservative estimate.

(Disclosure: Dan Tuohy is a former Union Leader staffer.)