Mississippi Senator Trent Lott dropped to #99 in the BCS U.S. Senate ratings Thursday, just ahead of #100 Robert Torricelli. Lott was saved from last place because of his high rating in the Ku Klux Klan computer poll. He reportedly will receive an at-large bid to the Tostitos Sayonara Bowl.

Love him or hate him, Ol’ Strom turns 100 years old today — the first senator ever to do so. He is reportedly celebrating by taking a nap.

In other news, I came up with a new BCS nightmare scenario for USC — or a new variation on an old scenario. Let’s say Miami loses, but stays ahead of USC in the polls, and Georgia wins, thus vaulting Iowa into the #4 spot in the BCS standings, as discussed below. Let’s also assume Washington State beats UCLA, so USC doesn’t get an automatic BCS berth that way. Ohio State becomes #1, so the Rose Bowl gets the first at-large pick, and chooses Iowa. Now there’s one spot left, and it’s up to either the Sugar or Orange Bowl (depending on who’s #2, Georgia or Miami) to decide who gets it. Either bowl (Orange especially) might be tempted to take someone other than USC, which they consider a “regional” team that doesn’t travel well. But choosing Notre Dame, who the Trojans just crushed 44-13 a week earlier, instead of USC could cause a giant controversy, so many USC fans assume they’re safe even in this situation; the BCS bowls surely won’t court a public-relations disaster by taking the Irish over the Trojans, right? Maybe not… but what about Kansas State?

The Wildcats, another 10-2 team, beat USC earlier in the season, so the Trojans would have no legitimate gripe there. They’re immediately behind the Trojans in the polls, and could be ranked #7 in the final BCS standings if Oklahoma loses to Colorado, which would make them the highest-ranked at-large contender after Iowa and USC. Their only losses were to Colorado and Texas, both Top 12 teams. They’re actively lobbying for a bid to the Orange Bowl (although they seem to think they have no chance unless UCLA wins; I’m not so sure). And from what I understand, Kansas State fans do “travel well,” so the Wildcats might be a more appealing choice than the Trojans, and one the Orange or Sugar Bowls could rationally pick over USC without a giant public outcry. So there’s something else for Trojan fans to worry about. Holiday Bowl, here we come???

UPDATE, 7:13 AM: Check out CNNSI’s “Revised BCS Forecast”, in which, this week, instead of predicting what they really think will happen, they give us “the weirdest scenario we can imagine” — including USC playing in the Fiesta Bowl.

This is genuinely encouraging. But I’m not sure what “peaceful-loving” means. :)

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.

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…

First things first: Newington High School’s football team beat Maloney 14-7 Friday night for their second consecutive win — the first time the Indians have done that since starting last season 3-0. (They finished the season 3-8.) This season, they are now 3-4 with four games remaining. (You must understand the context of this: the NHS football team won a grand total of three games the entire time I was in high school.)

Now, looking ahead to tomorrow…

The first big event occurs in less than six hours, at 7:00 AM Pacific time, when my LSAT score will become available by phone. Of course, I’ll undoubtedly be sleeping at 7:00 AM, so the big event will really occur when I bother to wake up, groggily grab a phone, and call. I’m hoping for mid-160s…

The second big event is the USC football team’s must-win game against Oregon at 12:30 PM Pacific time. (We need to catch the Ducks in a noose!) This game is crucial not only because the loser is effectively eliminated from winning the Pac-10, but also because Oregon’s athletic department had the unbelieveable audacity to paint a giant f***ing advertisement for Oregon football on the side of the Hotel Figueroa, just down the street from OUR campus!!! That’s what we call a declaration of war, my friends, and it means unequivocally that we MUST beat them. Let’s just hope Carson Palmer, Mike Williams & company will be weapons of mass destructions tomorrow in Eugene!

The third big event, of course, is Game Six of the World Series at 5:00 PM Pacific time in Anaheim. The Angels are trailing 3-2, seeking to repeat the home-field feat of the Diamondbacks last year, so they’re going to need some big-time help from the Rally Monkey (and perhaps a couple of their players… though really, I think the monkey can handle most of the hard work).

By the way, while we’re on the topic of the Angels, the funniest thing I read about the three games in San Francisco was that at one point, some Giants fans started chanting, “Beat L.A.! Beat L.A.!” A small group of Anaheim faithful correctly shouted back, “We’re not L.A.! We’re not L.A.!”

So, in conclusion… Wish me luck on my LSAT score, Fight on Trojans, and Believe in the Power of the Rally Monkey!

Oh yeah, one more news item: 4 days till I turn 21!!!

(Oh, you wanted real news? Well, the seige in Moscow ended, thank God; the Democrats are thinking about running Walter Mondale for Senate in place of the late Senator Wellstone; and the authorities are battling over who should get to put the snipers on trial first. Also, as friend and fellow blogger Andrew rightly points out, I have been remiss in not mentioning Hurricane Kenna on this site. Despite my usually intense interest in weather generally and hurricanes especially, I have been so consumed with sniper news that, frankly, I barely noticed it. But Kenna was a ferocious Category 5 storm at one point, and it has now made landfall in Mexico as a powerful Category 4.)

Paul Wellstone, one of the most principled liberals in the U.S. Senate, has died in a plane crash. His chartered plane went down in Evelethm, Minnesota, killing the senator, his wife, his daughter, three campaign staffers and two pilots. Wellstone was 58.

Aside from the awful human tragedy, this is a political nightmare, happening less than two weeks before an election. It’s like Mel Carnahan all over again. Wellstone was locked in a tough re-election battle against former St. Paul mayor Norm Coleman in a crucial race for control of the Senate. Larry Sabato recently labeled Wellstone “one of the most endangered Democratic incumbents in the country.” What will happen next is uncertain. CNN isn’t saying anything yet about whether/how he can be replaced on the ballot; the breaking news is too recent.

Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), reputedly the wittiest man in Congress and most certainly its only openly gay member, stop to pose for a picture with me after his lecture at USC on April 22. Frank is one of my favorite politicians; I’ve often said I hope he’ll be the first gay and Jewish president. (This picture would really be worth something then!)