An easy call on today's front page

This is the front page that I am sure many readers never thought they would see.

To the surprise of no one, the United States Senate rejected both articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump.

The only surprising thing that happened yesterday was the stand taken by former Republican presidential candidate and now Utah Sen. Mitt Romney casting a 'guilty' vote on the first count, abuse of power.

In doing so, Romney became the first U.S. senator in history to vote in favor of removing a president of his own party.

The first vote was 52-48 to acquit.

The vote on the second count, obstruction of Congress, was 53-47, with Romney joining his GOP brethren.

I'm sure many readers - especially those who believe we possess a liberal bias and never miss a chance to take a shot at President Trump - wondered how we would play the story.

I have spent the last couple of weeks talking about the decisions I make, including the most important one I make each day. That remains what will appear as the lead on our front page.

I have always defended those decisions - especially when we downplay a national story in favor of a local one, something that directly affects Delaware County. We are, after all, Delaware County's newspaper.

But after what the country has gone through, and the bitter partisan rhetoric that has accompanied it, I thought the impeachment vote needed to be on Page One.

Yes, I could have buried it inside. But that would not have been fair.

We did a local sidebar, getting reaction to the vote, including Rep. Mary Gay Scanlon, who was vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee that developed the impeachment articles, flatly saying that her colleagues in the Senate "turned their backs on the Constitution."

Where do we go from here?

Well, President Trump says he will address the nation today at noon.

Why do I get the feeling he's not going to apologize?

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