The Des Moines Register, the largest newspaper in Iowa, and a paper that has not endorsed a Republican presidential candidate in more than 40 years, is backing Mitt Romney for president!

From the endorsement editorial:

The former governor and business executive has a strong record of achievement in both the private and the public sectors. He was an accomplished governor in a liberal state. He founded and ran a successful business that turned around failing companies. He successfully managed the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City.

Romney has made rebuilding the economy his No. 1 campaign priority — and rightly so.

 Read the full endorsement at the newspaper's website

This endorsement is huge. The Des Moines Register is a liberal bastion that endorsed Barack Obama in 2008. It's influence should carry Romney to a win in Iowa and could swing most of the Midwest battlegound states of Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio to Romney.