for both presidential candidates, the Florida Democratic Party and civics teachers across America -- as well as more than its share of losers.

Political analysts suggested some of the most prominent losers in this five-week melodrama were: Both presidential candidates, Al Gore and George W. Bush, who struggled with limited success to appear presidential during the chaos; Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who couldn't decisively deliver his state for his brother and the Republicans, then infuriated Democrats during the recount; Secretary of State Katherine Harris, who incurred wrath as she tried several times to wrap up the election with Bush winning; Palm Beach County elections supervisor Theresa LePore, who developed the disastrous "butterfly ballot;'' The state of Florida, which underwent more than a month of ridicule in the national news; and Punch-card ballots, which have likely proven their time has passed; The Florida Democratic Party was a winner because the 2000 elections helped bring it back to near parity with the Republicans after a disastrous 1998 election, and has fired the Democrats up for the 2002 governor's race.

Lawyers Barry Richard for Bush and David Boies for Gore both combined legal and diplomatic skills during a frantic series of court hearings.

Civics teachers got a boost when the entire country got a nightly government class on television. Congress will probably be a winner because the eventual presidential winner is likely to be hampered by the close election.

Some others got a mixed verdict: the US Supreme Court, whose decisions were alternately praised or condemned depending on partisan preferences; former Secretary of State James Baker, who was praised for stage-managing the early Bush victories in Florida, but criticised for getting so involved in a partisan mudfight; the state Supreme Court, praised for its careful questioning of both sides, but chastised twice by the US Supreme Court for decisions supporting the recount; and the American public, which learned plenty of lessons on the Constitution and the Electoral College, but might have preferred to change the subject.

"Among the big winners are those who advocated election reforms,'' said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press.

"Also among the winners are the television lawyers.'' Several suggested the winners included President Clinton, who summed up the recount by saying: "We have a Constitution. We have a rule of law. We've voted, and now the system is trying to figure out exactly what we said.'' Even some Republicans admitted Clinton can sum up a situation more eloquently than either Gore or Bush.

A big loser was the US election system, which appears more fraught with imperfections than ever before, said political scientist Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia.

"Just what we needed in a cynical age, an increase in cynicism,'' he said.