Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »

MEDIA:APPARENTLY LOOKING for something old to go with something new (Barack Obama) and something blue (a more Democratic Congress), the American people bought newspapers in huge numbers on Wednesday after the historic election of the nation's first black president.

From the US's largest daily, USA Today, to more modest broadsheets, newspapers expanded press runs to accommodate increased sales. Some sold special gift editions and framed front pages. But even the expanded production left many newsracks empty and consumers scrambling to snag a memento. Readers lined up from Los Angeles to Miami to buy copies of their daily paper.