The hardworking staff found itself reading a variety of obituaries of former Vermont U.S. Sen. James Jeffords yesterday, all of which featured similar ledes.

Washington Post:

James M. Jeffords, the maverick Vermont politician who in 2001 gave Democrats a short-lived majority in the U.S. Senate when he left the Republican Party and declared himself an independent, died Aug. 18 at a retirement residence in Washington. He was 80.

New York Times:

Jim Jeffords, the former senator from Vermont who single-handedly redrew the national political map in 2001 when, after a quarter-century as a moderate Republican lawmaker, he declared himself an independent, shifting control of the Senate to the Democrats, died on Monday in Washington. He was 80.

Wall Street Journal:

Jim Jeffords, the former Vermont senator who single-handedly tipped the balance of power in the Senate in 2001 when he left the Republican Party, has died. He was 80 years old.

Which got us to thinking: What would we like the lede of our obituary to be? (A recently acquired MBTA GeezerCard was also a factor.)

The answer:

John Carroll, a writer in Boston since 1974, loved a blank page.

How about yours?