'Time' Names Bush 'Person of the Year'

ByABC News
December 17, 2000, 11:55 AM

N E W  Y O R K, Dec. 17 -- There will be no recount on this one:President-elect George W. Bush today was named Time magazinesPerson of the Year.

As in this years razor-thin presidential election, the Texasgovernor received the nod over Vice President Al Gore. According toTime managing editor Walter Isaacson, the magazine decided lastweek that the new president-elect either one would receive itsannual honor.

Why?

The survivor would not only be the next president but a symbolof a historic showdown that would be remembered and cited a centuryhence, Isaacson wrote in explaining the magazines choice.

He Remade the Republicans

As for Bush, Isaacson wrote, He remade and united theRepublican Party and defeated a talented vice president who had thewind at his back after eight years of wallet-popping prosperity.

His amiable demeanor, Isaacson continued, tapped into adesire to end years of meaningless partisan rancor.

Bushs victory, obviously, did not come easy. After 35 days oflegal wrangling, a U.S. Supreme Court decision ended the Floridarecount to lift Bush into the White House.

Bush became the first winner since 1888 to gain an ElectoralCollege majority at 271 one more than needed to win thepresidency while losing the popular vote nationwide.

In an interview with the magazine, Bush said he viewed the closeelection as a positive for his administration.

It gives us a chance to show we can rise above a dividedhouse, that there are some issues ... that are more important thanthat which has divided the house, the 54-year-old Bush said.

Times first cover honoree was Charles Lindbergh in 1927; lastyears winner was Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos. President Clintonwas twice named as an honoree first after his election in 1992,and again with special prosecutor Kenneth Starr in 1998 after theMonica Lewinsky scandal.