Two profiles of presidential candidates in Colombia, one left-wing and one right-wing, appeared on the same page in Sunday’s New York Times, but offering two markedly different tones. With the voting over, the “right-wing outsider” appears set to win the vote tally, and these pre-election stories are seeped in a sense of impending regret for the leftist’s blown opportunity. The print headline portrayed the leftist candidate as being unfairly attacked: “Onetime Favorite Deals With Anti-Leftist Anger.” The online headline referenced Trump: “Trump Called Iván Cepeda a ‘Radical Left Marxist.’ Can He Be Colombia’s President?” (Apparently not, though Cepeda’s camp is challenging the outcome.) Bogota-based reporter Annie Correal began:  For months, the left-wing candidate in Colombia’s presidential election this Sunday seemed lulled by his lead in the polls. The candidate, Iván Cepeda, anchored by support from President Gustavo Petro and his base, largely stayed home. A senator, human rights activist and professor who favors simple, collarless shirts and looks like he just stepped out of a philosophy lecture, Mr. Cepeda, 63, turned down debates and mostly gave interviews to friendly media. “It was a catastrophic campaign,” said Juan Carlos Flórez, a Colombian political historian, a verdict shared by even Mr. Cepeda’s staunchest supporters. That became clear on May 31, the first round of voting. A right-wing outsider, Abelardo De La Espriella, stunned the left by winning the most votes, surpassing not only a traditional conservative candidate, but also Mr. Cepeda, propelled by a campaign that seized on anger at Mr. Petro and a social media blitz. Days later, Mr. De La Espriella was endorsed by President Trump, who called Mr. Cepeda a “Radical Left Marxist.” Mr. De La Espriella, 47, a criminal defense lawyer who spent much of his career in Miami, has led the polls. Mr. Cepeda, known for not giving up, has traveled across Colombia, thrown aside his carefully prepared speeches and has begun attacking Mr. De La Espriella. Credit Correal for including an anecdote about how gauzy leftist economic plans fall apart in the face of reality. Even some people who benefited from [former left-wing president Gustavo] Petro’s policies say they are worse off. Ramón Montañez, a doorman in Bogotá, said a move to increase wages had been a bald attempt to get votes, and had cost him his job. His employer — saying he could no longer afford him — was installing security cameras. “The increase to the minimum wage?” he said. “What it did was leave a ton of people without work.” But she also tried her best to make the prospect of a “right-wing” Espriella presidency sound menacing. But as an emboldened Mr. De La Espriella hardened his message and, according to Mr. Flórez, “ate Mr. Cepeda alive” with online attacks, he had scared people. By contrast with the regret Correal expressed in her profile of left-wing Cepeda, the probable losing candidate, hostility emanated from the profile she cowrote (with Patricia Mazzei and Jorge Valencia) on Cepneda’s “right-wing outsider” opponent, Abelardo De La Espriella. The print headline was the mirror image of the Cepeda profile’s headline: “The Right-Wing Outsider Who Could Become Colombia’s Next Leader.” He has divided Colombians. Supporters say his combative energy is needed to defeat cocaine-trafficking groups, while critics warn of an authoritarian threat, as Mr. De La Espriella pledges to “disembowel the left” and ruthlessly pursue opponents with the help of the United States. Many on both sides are still asking: Who is this man? His campaign has borrowed ideas from other right-wing leaders — megaprisons from President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, cost-cutting from President Javier Milei of Argentina (along with a tiger mascot, a nod to Mr. Milei’s lion) — and has seized on anger at Colombia’s outgoing leftist president, Gustavo Petro. Mr. De La Espriella has vowed to restore security, shrink the state, take control of the health system and closely collaborate with the Trump administration. Then the paper went after a lawyer for having unpopular clients, as if the paper would ever fault a lawyer for representing Antifa, or Osama bin Laden. Mr. De La Espriella moved to Miami and took on high-profile clients, including accused drug traffickers and the mastermind of one of Colombia’s largest pyramid schemes.