Election Section
Election and Elian were top stories of 2000
America’s protracted election, the tug-of-war over Elian Gonzalez and the terrorist bombing of the USS Cole ranked as the top news stories of 2000, according to The Associated Press annual survey of its members.
No. 1 was no contest: George W. Bush’s nail-biting triumph in Florida in an extraordinary presidential race resolved by the nation’s highest court five weeks after Election Day. The story received a first-place ranking from 281 of the 312 AP newspaper and broadcast members who took part in the news cooperative’s survey.
AP members also turned to Florida for the No. 2 story: The bitter custody battle with political overtones that centered on whether young Elian Gonzalez, rescued from the sea while fleeing Cuba with his mother, should stay with relatives in Miami or be returned to his father.
Fifty overseas subscribers, in a separate poll, also chose the U.S. presidential battle as the top story. But they ranked the ouster of Yugoslavia’s Slobodan Milosevic second, followed by Israeli-Palestinian violence. Next were the Aug. 12 disaster aboard the Russian nuclear submarine Kursk and the historic summit between leaders of the two Koreas.
U.S. editors ranked Milosevic’s toppling No. 9, the Middle East conflict No. 11, and the Russian sub tragedy No. 12. They did not place the Koreas summit among the top 20 stories – ranking it lower than the 2000 Olympic Games and Tiger Woods’ three Grand Slam wins.
This was the 65th year that the AP polled its members. A first-place vote gave a story 10 points, a second-place vote nine points, and so on. The top story last year was President Clinton’s impeachment trial.
Here are the top 10 stories of 2000 as ranked by AP members:
1) The presidential election: George W. Bush emerged the winner in an overtime election that took unprecedented legal and political twists.
2) Tug-of-war over Elian Gonzalez: After months of political and legal wrangling, armed federal agents seized the 6-year-old boy from his Miami relatives, and he was ultimately returned him to his father in Cuba.
3) USS Cole attack: Seventeen U.S. sailors died Oct. 12 when explosives transported in a small boat ripped open the hull of the 505-foot destroyer in Yemen.
4) Oil prices: Crude oil prices soared as OPEC curtailed production, leading to a worldwide outcry over higher fuel costs and prompting the United States to dip into its strategic reserves.
5) Firestone’s troubles: The tire maker recalled more than 6 million tires after complaints of tread separations, blowouts and other problems that led to accidents.
6) Microsoft breakup: A federal judge ordered Microsoft Corp. to split up in an antitrust case that, if upheld, could result in the largest government-ordered restructuring since AT&T’s breakup in 1984.
7) Genetic code mapped: New medical frontiers opened when scientists announced that they had virtually deciphered the human genetic code.
8) The Year 2000: The new year arrived mostly glitch-free, with millennium celebrations drowning out doomsday predictions of Y2K computer problems.
9) Milosevic toppled: Following a disputed election, the 13-year rule of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic ended abruptly when thousands of people stormed parliament and forced him to hand power to rival Vojislav Kostunica.
10) Tobacco verdict: A jury ordered the tobacco industry to pay a record $145 billion in punitive damages to sick Florida smokers.
