Birch Bay man buys 10,000 copies of Herald's 'Obama wins' paper

Nov. 5 editions to be stored for possible future sale

SAM TAYLOR - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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Thomas Baldwin thinks there might be money to be made now that Illinois Sen. Barack Obama is President-elect Obama.

And he's got 10,000 reasons to be hopeful.

On Wednesday, Nov. 5, Baldwin purchased 10,000 copies of The Bellingham Herald's election wrap-up edition that has Obama smiling and waving on the front with "Obama wins" in bold letters across the top.

| THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

Baldwin figures the historic election could some day net him a profit.

"I sat there thinking about that and I thought, 'You know, what the heck, maybe there's a market for it.'"

At a wholesale bulk price of 17 cents per paper, the Birch Bay resident�s purchase adds up to $1,700. The newspaper�s cover price is 50 cents an issue.

The Herald's newspaper presses still had the plates for the election-night publication when Baldwin called, said Skip Gibson, the paper's operations director. That's why the newspaper was able to print enough copies for Baldwin's special order.

The 67-year-old said he has a friend in California who sells copies of newspapers that are decades old at trade shows and makes a profit. He thinks he may be able to do the same with the Obama papers.

He'll wrap them in plastic and put them in storage for now.

Baldwin retired from U.S. Customs and Border Protection and is a stock trader. He normally supports independent candidate Ralph Nader, but this election he decided to go for Obama, he said.

This story is a corrected version. The price Thomas Baldwin paid for the papers was incorrect in an earlier version.