A brief rundown of college media’s Obama-mania on and around Election Day 2008:

• An Associated Collegiate Press collection of campus newspaper front pages on the day after the election (viewable slideshow-style) and side pieces on the papers’ sudden uber-popularity among readers looking to preserve history (and a wonderful rebuttal post by Bryan Murley at the Center for Innovation in College Media on the importance of not reading too much into the one-day printerrific lovefest)  

The post-election front page of The Daily Emerald at the University of Oregon.

• Examples of new media-tastic campus press election coverage, including NewsHub’s live updates at Hofstra University and election day (and night) footage at Chicago’s Grant Park captured by Columbia College Chicago j-students (the only college media personnel granted access to the area)

• Recaps of racial controversies accompanying the otherwise positive historic event, including a cartoon run in The Daily Wildcat at the University of Arizona containing the ‘N word’ that caused a stir and the buzz around a set of vaguely-racist leaflets slipped inside the student paper at Lehigh University

• A look back at college newspapers’ overwhelmingly pro-Obama presidential endorsements and the flak one student paper at a conservative Christian school received for favoring the soon-to-be president-elect over McCain

• And finally, an interesting pre-election piece by The Michigan Review questioning just how much, and what kind, of an impact the college press actually has on student voters

College print newspapers also witnessed emptier-than-usual newsstands and stacks.  For example, the EIC of The Maneater at the University of Missouri blogged yesterday that spare copies of the paper were scarce.  “The news is hard to find today,” he wrote.  “Campus readership bins across campus are bare after last night’s elections.”  A screenshot of a portion of the paper’s front page is below.

The Michigan Review collected thoughts from a few student journalists and individuals who love them.  Three highlights:

Ben French, general manager of U-Wire: “College newspapers serve as a major news source for students . . . across the county, which is why the Obama campaign has hosted several conference calls with college media outlets.  Even with falling newspaper readership, college newspaper readership rates are still in the high nineties. People are still picking up a newspaper on the way to class, grabbing a paper that someone left in their seat. College newspapers are able to gain access to college-aged consumers.”

Jamie Klein, Daily Nebraskan staff writer: “The press conferences have helped us bring this year’s presidential election closer to students. Seeing coverage in their student newspaper makes the election easier to grasp because our articles are focused to students and issues that students care about.”

The Review‘s own take: “College media writers are having their work syndicated by outlets such as CBS, Politico, and TMZ.com, and presidential campaigns have taken notice. The campaigns of John McCain and Barack Obama have made young voters a priority and the Obama campaign in particular has worked to contact and engage college media outlets, despite the lack of numerical support to show that college students will respond.”

What was most interesting to me is that editors’ decisions were made for a mix of reasons, including: a lack of consensus among the editorial board about which candidate was best suited for the job; a belief that student readers turned to the paper for local issues and not to “get a national fix of politics”; and a perceived lack of access that editors felt did not provide them with any special knowledge that they could impart about the candidates that voters did not already have.

My thoughts: First, if there’s no consensus among the board, write an editorial about THAT and what it might mean and how that compares to prez endorsements in the paper’s past.  Second, student readers may dig all-things-local first but the college rag can play a bigger part than you think in upping their national consciousness as well, so don’t shy away from tackling the macro stuff, especially when it’s this historic.

And for the record, two influential papers in the state, The Flat Hat at William & Mary and The Mace & Crown at Old Dominion, did go the endorsement route.  Both supported Obama.

The paper’s lone wolf status made me curious, so I tracked down the endorsement.  According to the Mississippian, in what editors noted was a split decision, McCain was chosen because it was felt his ”lifetime of experience” makes him more qualified for the office.  Additionally, the endorsement stated:

We feel Sen. McCain’s experience in foreign affairs and his decision to not raise taxes on anyone of any class of society makes him the clear choice for president. Sen. McCain has a history of stepping across party lines; the same cannot be said of Sen. Obama.  Sen. McCain also has a record as an agent of change. He has promised to focus more on the issues of energy, climate change and excessive government spending, all of which need to be addressed in order for this country to effectively move forward.

As “NewsHub” team member and j-student extraordinaire Kelly Glista told CMM:

Having had the third presidential debate on our campus we were able to produce a live webcast using mogulus.com, as well as cover it live blogging throughout that evening. . . . [We] are planning similar coverage for Tuesday.

Glista will share a follow-up post later this week about the ins-outs-ups-and-downs of the group’s live online election coverage.  So stay tuned.  In the meantime, come Tuesday, vote early and then tune into “NewsHub.”

As the site describes the effort’s aim:

From gavel to gavel at both political conventions through Election Day, the Campaign Coverage ’08 team will file stories with over two-dozen media outlets in China and the United States. Hard news, human interest, opinion and election-year color, the team of international journalists from two starkly different political systems engaged in this historical undertaking will bring a unique and fresh perspective to political media coverage.