No fixed number of characters; the text is limited by display area, ie text with a lot of wide characters truncates sooner than text with a lot of narrow characters (despite emulating a typewriter, the font is not quite fixed width). In addition, the save filename text competes with the same display area, so the longer the filename, the less characters again.
I trimmed most of the "white space" out of the NewsMod back in 2006 (the text was even longer before then), and given that the problem a) only appears when reloading save games, b) only appears occasionally (ie months with longer lines of text or where user has used a long save filename) and c) has absolutely no impact on the game at all, I chose not to trim out any more. However, if it really distracts/bothers/upsets people, all they need do is edit SH3Cmdr\Cfg\Menu variable_**.txt. They'll be able to quickly see the lines (months) most likely affected and can edit out what they want.
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