Amy Chozick reports on the presidential race from Albuquerque, New Mexico.

Barack Obama picked up the endorsement of the Anchorage Daily News on Sunday.

Alaska’s largest newspaper said Gov. Sarah Palin has brought to the state “attention and recognition” as the Republican vice presidential nominee but said that fact alone “does not overwhelm all other judgment.”

“Many Alaskans are proud to see their governor, and their state, so prominent on the national stage,” reads the endorsement. But “Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic nominee, brings far more promise to the office.”

Obama “displays thoughtful analysis, enlists wise counsel and operates with a cool, stead hand. The same cannot be said of Sen. McCain,” the editors continue.

The paper notes that both Obama and John McCain oppose the opening of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, a policy position the Anchorage Daily News disagrees with. “We think both are wrong, and hope a President Obama can be convinced to support environmentally responsible development of that resource.”

With a circulation of roughly 71,000 and two Pulitzer Prizes, the Anchorage Daily News is the state’s most influential newspaper. It has been critical of Palin in the past, though the endorsement still comes as a surprise.

The editors called Palin “passionate, charismatic and indefatigable” and said “her future, in Alaska, and on the national stage, seems certain to be played out in the limelight.”

But in the end, the paper says “few who have worked closely with the governor would argue she is truly ready to assume command of the most important, powerful national on earth.”

Obama has racked up a string of endorsements in recent days including The New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune and the New Jersey Bergen Record. (For more, see: Who Endorsed Obama? | Who Endorsed McCain?)

If the 2004 presidential election is any indication, endorsements do not equal victory. Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry scored endorsements from significantly more publications than President Bush.