'Time' Names Bush 'Person of the Year'

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 magazine’sPerson of the Year.

As in this year’s 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 magazine’s 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.”

Bush’s 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.

Time’s first cover honoree was Charles Lindbergh in 1927; lastyear’s 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.