Admired by most

[Scott_Dredge@BayNetworks.COM (Scott Dredge)]

WARNING: As with Sam's post this will also irritate some readers! 

Clinton Most Admired 
President Beats Out Pontiff in American Fans 

Reuters Dec. 31 - President Clinton in 1998 was the man most admired by
Americans and his rating was four percentage points higher than before the
Monica Lewinsky sex scandal broke, a Gallup Poll showed today.

According to the poll, conducted Monday and Tuesday, Clinton was listed
first or second on the most admired list by 18 percent of those queried,
far ahead of the second person on the list, Pope John Paul II, who got 7
percent.

That rating for Clinton, who has led the poll each of the last five years,
was up from the 14 percent in 1997 before word of his affair with the
former White House intern monopolized the nation's news.

First lady Hillary Rodham Clinton was the most admired woman with 28
percent, twice what her rating was the year before. She too has led the
list for the past five years.

Starr Gets 1 Percent

Behind the president and the Pope John Paul II were U.S. religious leader
Billy Graham, with 5 percent, and basketball star Michael Jordan, with 4
percent.

Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr, who conducted the investigation of
Clinton's relationship with Lewinsky, was most admired by 1 percent of the
public, putting him in 13th place, tied with civil rights leader Jesse
Jackson, former Republican presidential candidate Bob Dole, British Prime
Minister Tony Blair and Norman Schwarzkopf, the general who led U.S. forces
in the Gulf War.

Twelve percent picked a friend or relative as the most admired.

Hillary Tops Oprah

Among the most admired women, entertainer Oprah Winfrey finished in second
place, far behind Mrs. Clinton with 8 percent.

Following her were Elizabeth Dole, head of the Red Cross, with 6 percent;
former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, with 4 percent, and former
first lady Barbara Bush and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, with 3
percent each.

The poll was conducted in telephone interviews with 1,055 adults and had a
margin of error of 3 percentage points.