Papers heralding momentous race are a scarce commodity

If you’re looking to buy a copy of the Star-Telegram with the results of Tuesday’s elections, good luck. Newspapers across the country are flying off the racks.

The New York Times printed an additional 75,000 copies, and The Washington Post had plans Wednesday to distribute 250,000 copies of a 26-page special edition, according to the papers’ Web sites.

Copies of the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times were selling on eBay for $100 a pop, and bidding for single copies of other major papers was at about $40.

The Star-Telegram initially printed thousands of extra copies, then ran the presses again for 6,000 more, said Dolan Stidom, the paper’s vice president for circulation. This year’s demand, especially in the blue areas of Tarrant County, is almost twice the demand after the Gore-Bush election in 2000, he said.

The best bet for finding a souvenir copy is at a grocery or convenience store. Racks won’t be refilled. There have been reports of people cleaning out racks and selling copies on corners for more than the 50-cent newsstand price. — Andrew Chavez