40,000 more copies of Obama-win Virginian-Pilot to be printed

NORFOLK

Faced with a crush of calls and requests for more copies of Wednesday's newspaper on Barack Obama's presidential win, The Virginian-Pilot will print an additional 40,000 copies today.

After an initial additional press run of 15,000 copies Wednesday morning, demand kept growing and 15,000 more were printed and delivered this morning, officials said.

They weren't enough.

"The switchboard is just being bombarded," said Mark Quan, Pilot circulation director. "Farm Fresh is limiting people to one copy. One woman bought 60."

By this evening, the 40,000 additional copies should be in the nearest grocery, convenience or drug store, Quan said. The first 30,000 extra copies were distributed to 7-Eleven, Wawa and Farm Fresh stores only. This time, the copies will be spread out.

Quan said the papers should be in stores this evening. He couldn't commit to a specific time.

The latest round of copies will be the final press run for Wednesday's historic edition, Quan added.

"What's important here is this is the last time we're going to the well," Quan said.

That brings the total number of extra copies of the paper since yesterday to 70,000, Quan said.

Expecting additional interest, The Pilot printed an additional 8,000 copies on Tuesday night. 

By 9 a.m. Wednesday, retailers were requesting more, and people were calling and stopping by the newspaper's offices.

"We've never had to do this since I've been here," said Quan, who's been with the newspaper for eight years.

The Virginian-Pilot started Wednesday with a run of nearly 196,000 copies. That included 20,500 for "single-copy sales," up from the usual 12,500. Single-sales copies are not delivered to homes and are usually sold at outlets such as convenience and grocery stores.

The newspapers went fast, triggering the first added printing. 

"We had store managers from Farm Fresh, 7-Eleven, Food Lion, Wawa who were jamming up our phone lines saying they were sold out at 9 o'clock," Quan said.

"We've had people here downstairs," he said, referring to the newspaper's main office on Brambleton Avenue, "sometimes 15 at a time, wanting to buy more than one."

Pat Washington of Virginia Beach is in that category. Washington went to a few stores, with no luck, before arriving at the newspaper office in search of extra copies.

"My mission was to pass them out to my family and to save them," she said. "It's history; it's history." 

Photo reprints of the front page of the paper (pictured above) can be purchased online here.