On those mornings that hold the prospect of great historical or consequential significance, there are few better resources from which to gather global perspectives than the Washington, D.C.-based Newseum. Each day, it displays the front pages from more than 300 newspapers published in more than 60 countries around the world, in addition to more than 350 domestic newspapers published across the U.S. There may be no easier way to get a sense of what people around the world and across this country are thinking as we head to the polls today.
A scan of today's newspapers suggests that the eyes of the world are on today's U.S. elections -- though to varying degrees. Many of the world's newspapers emphasize sports, cheesecake, crime, scandal, local and regional stories on their front pages. Due to the impracticality of transcribing Asian, Greek, Cyrillic and other non-western scripts, the following list foregoes these newspapers. This list also sacrifices phonetic marks such as accents and umlauts.
Among those giving the U.S. vote the greatest attention are the following two dozen newspapers that chose today's election as their lead story. Almost all of their headlines are illustrated with big photos of Obama and/or McCain, or illustrations of the Democrat and Republican.
Au Fait, Casablanca, Morocco: L'heure de verite
Avui, Barcelona, Spain: Obama, si o no
Correo, Piura, Peru: Un negro en la Casa Bianca?
Dagens Nyheter, Stockholm, Sweden: En historisk duell
De Standaard, Brussels, Belgium: OBAMA-DAY
El Colombiano, Medellin, Colombia; Super Martes: El dia del successor de Bush
El Pais, Montevideo, Uruguay: EE. UU. RUMBO A CAMBIAR LA HISTORIA
El Periodico de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain: El gran esperanca blanca (overlaying a large photo of Obama)
, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: DATE WITH HISTORY
Haaretz, Tel-Aviv, Israel: YES WE CAN
La Presse, Montreal, Canada: L'HEURE DE VERITE
La Repubblica, Rome, Italy: America, il sogno di Obama
Mlada Fronta DNES, Prague, Czech Republic: Obama, nebo McCain?
National Post, Toronto, Canada: AMERICANS SET TO MAKE HISTORY
Nepszabadsag, Budapest, Hungary: Barack Obama a tortenelem kapujaban
Peru.21, Lima, Peru: Favorito (over big photo of Obama)
SME, Bratislava, Slovakia: Amerika rozhoduje, ci si Obama splni sen
The Gleane r, Kingston, Jamaica: D-Day for USA
The Guardian, London, UK: America's moment of truth
The Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem, Israel: McCain fights polls, Obama remains upbeat
The Province, Vancouver, Canada: BARACK TO THE FUTURE
The Times, Johannesburg, South Africa: YES, HE CAN!
Toronto Star, Toronto, Canada: Moment of Truth
After the polls close today, the ballots tallied, electoral votes apportioned and anticipation transformed to results, tomorrow's front pages may prove even more intriguing.
