CNN reports that Winona Ryder “may have stole just for the thrill of it”…

Just 45 percent of California voters bothered to choose between Gray Davis and Bill Simon. The rest presumably had better things to do, like pick their noses.

But officials say it’s not terrorism. Of course, they said that about anthrax at first, too. Let’s hope they’re right this time.

Newspaper front pages and headlines from across America on Wednesday, November 6, 2002…

Boston Globe: Romney sails to victory (JPEG, 209 KB)

Hartford Courant: ROWLAND WINS A 3RD; CONGRESS UNCERTAIN (PDF, 176 KB) or (JPEG, 122 KB)

New York Times: G.O.P. COLLECTS KEY GAINS NATIONWIDE; PATAKI, JEB BUSH, ELIZABETH DOLE WIN; LAUTENBERG IN; SENATE OUTCOME CLOSE (JPEG, 88 KB)

New York Post: GEORGE III: Pataki wins landslide third term (JPEG, 48 KB)

Newark Star-Ledger: LAUTENBERG WINS THE DAY (JPEG, 126 KB)

Philadelphia Inquirer: Randell Rules (JPEG, 151 KB)

Baltimore Sun: EHRLICH WINS: 1st GOP governor since ‘66; Smith wins in Balto. Co. (JPEG, 140 KB)

Washington Post: GOP Controls Both Houses // Ehrlich Stuns Townsend for Governor (JPEG, 71 KB)

Miami Herald: A SMOOTH VOTE FOR BUSH: GOVERNOR EASILY BEATS MCBRIDE (JPEG, 103 KB)

Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Republicans roll (JPEG, 63 KB)

Cleveland Plain Dealer: Taft, GOP sweep: Governor, party grab control of statewide offices(JPEG, 128 KB)

Detroit Free Press: SHE’S THE BOSS: GRANHOLM WINS A PLACE IN HISTORY (JPEG, 135 KB)

Detroit News: Granholm triumphs, pledges to unify state (JPEG, 63 KB)

Chicago Tribune: Illinois Democrats romp / GOP seizes U.S. Senate, holds House (JPEG, 158 KB)

St. Louis Post-Dispatch: Talent wins nail-biter: GOP CAPTURES U.S. SENATE, HOLDS ON TO HOUSE / MISSOURI HOUSE ALSO GOES TO REPUBLICANS (PDF, 152 KB) or (JPEG, 147 KB)

Arkansas Democrat Gazette: Republicans add Senate control // Polls close late; chaos carries Pulaski county // Pryor follows dad to U.S. Senate win (JPEG, 173 KB)

Arizona Republic: A CLIFFHANGER: Napolitano, Salmon in mighty duel (JPEG, 147 KB)

San Diego Union-Tribune: Republicans win control of Senate // DAVIS RE-ELECTED (JPEG, 113 KB)

Please note: I am posting these newspaper front pages here for informational and archival purposes only; no commercial or copyright-infringing use is intended. If you are the copyright owner of an image displayed here and you would like to have the image removed, please e-mail me and let me know, and I will comply with your request. Thanks!

UPDATE, 5:03 AM: I just found a site with a bunch more front pages. I’ve downloaded Wednesday’s (they’ll disappear soon, to be replaced by Thursday’s), and will upload them ASAP.

UPDATE, 11/8/02, 2:14 AM: I now have more than 100 U.S. newspaper front pages, plus the front pages of 10 foreign newspapers, from Nov. 6-7 online. Just click here to start checking out the galleries.

But enough about the silly election stuff! You’re probably wondering about the coverage of the week’s really big story, the Winona Ryder guilty verdict! Well, here’s what the New York tabloids had to say:
 

The Grand Old Party is celebrating an historic victory today, and the media is declaring a “sweep” and a “landslide,” all because two Republican candidates in two states won by an average margin of less than two percent of the vote. Norm Coleman and Jim Talent, in Minnesota and Missouri, outpaced Walter Mondale and Jean Carnahan, respectively, by a combined total 79,841 votes out of more than 4 million cast. Because of which, the GOP now controls the Senate.

But I’m not whining or objecting to the headlines; I’m just observing. There’s no doubt of this election’s historic character. (Although, since this is the second midterm election in a row in which the president’s party has gained ground, I can’t help but wonder whether something in modern politics is permanently altering that old rule of thumb.) Only time will tell. Regardless of that, however, the GOP now controls the agenda in Washington, which is in itself both historic and highly significant.

This has a good side and a bad side for Democrats, and for liberals like me. The bad side, of course, is the Republicans can and will enact lots of conservative policies and appoint lots of conservative judges, and quite possibly conservative justices as well. Something tells me they won’t compromise with the Democrats much on this, considering how hard-nosed the Dems were about justices over the past year. (A short-sighted strategy on their part, methinks. Sure, you can be an a**hole and succeed while you’re in power, but if you ever lose power, you’ve left behind no reservoir of good will, nor even a sense of fair play, from which to draw concessions from the new majority. Bad idea. You gotta pick your battles. Confucius say, let Bush have the little judges, fight him on the big judges.)

But the good side is, President Bush now has no one to blame if stuff goes badly in the next two years. He suddenly just became a bit more vulnerable in 2004. The American people love “outsiders,” and that’s exactly what the Democrats are now. So, just as the Republican Revolution of 1994 helped Clinton stay in power by immunizing him from blame, the Republican Squeak-Sweep of 2002 may help nudge Bush out of power by de-immunizing him from blame.

Unfortunately, there is a huge vacuum of leadership on the Democratic side, and if someone doesn’t step up to the plate soon, we’re going to end up running a Bob Dole and losing miserably. For starters, Daschle and Gephardt don’t look too exciting at the moment. The Johns, Kerry and Edwards, have their strong points, but I’m skeptical of any candidate coming from the Senate. Successful presidential candidates tend to be governors, former governors, vice presidents, and former vice presidents — not senators.

But where are all the strong, well-known, up-and-coming Democratic governors? Rod Blagojevich, Ed Rendell and Katherine Granholm? No good; they just got elected last night, and won’t have enough time to establish themselves before the campaign begins. (Although, “Granholm for Vice President” does have a certain ring to it.) Roy Barnes? Jim Hodges? Oh wait… they lost. Gray Davis? Uh, yeah right. I like to call him “Al Gore without the charisma.” The man just barely beat Bill Simon — the worst campaigner in the history of mankind — and you want him to run for president?

(CORRECTION, Nov. 11: My fellow blogger Andrew and my dad’s friend Bob Lutts both rightly point out that Katherine Granholm was born in Canada, and thus cannot be president or vice president. Oops!)

Hmm… well, let’s look to the Northeast. There’s lots of good Democrats there, right? WRONG! All the Northeastern states have freakin’ Republican governors!!! Well, how about the South? Nothing doing — the Republicans practically reclaimed the whole damn Confederacy last night. So what does that leave us with? A bunch of senators…. and Al Gore. Personally, my big fear is the Democrats won’t be able to come up with anyone better than Gore, and they’ll nominate him basically by default. Which, considering how the last Gore campaign went, doesn’t make me terribly hopeful. Can you say “four more years”?

(UPDATE, Nov. 11: Mr. Lutz points out, and I also noticed on my own, that there is one plausible Democratic governor from the Northeast: Vermont’s Howard Dean. He appears to have some good 2004 potential — Mr. Lutts calls him a “dark horse,” which reminds me a bit of James K. Polk — and Dean-Bush would certainly be better than Gore-Bush II. But seriously, people, this four-letter name thing is getting a little old. Let’s just hope he doesn’t pick Evan Bayh as his runningmate!)

Wait, wait, I know!!!! WALTER MONDALE!!!!!

Okay, okay, maybe not. :)

(Speaking of which, I saw Norm Coleman’s acceptance speech on CNN this morning, and I gotta say, I can see why Minnesotans elected him. He just seemed like a really nice guy. Very gracious; very nice tributes to Wellstone and Mondale. And that whole “Mr. Vice President” thing in the debate was classy, too. He may be the enemy, but honestly, I kinda like him.)

Well, I’m going to stop writing now and get on with my homework… with visions of a “Mondale/Lautenberg 2004″ dancing in my head…