War in Iraq overwhelming choice as top story of 2003

The "major combat" phase was over in six weeks, but the war in Iraq -- from its tumultuous prelude to a still-active insurgency -- was in the global spotlight throughout the year.

By an overwhelming margin, the U.S.-led invasion and occupation was voted the top story of 2003 in The Associated Press' annual survey of American editors and news directors. Even with voting ending the day before Saddam Hussein's capture, the Iraq story received first-place votes from 280 of the 287 AP newspaper and broadcast members who cast ballots.

The clear runner-up, with five first-place votes and most of the second-place votes, was the Columbia space shuttle disaster, the explosion that killed seven astronauts on Feb. 1.

Here are the ranking of the remaining top 10 stories, as voted by AP members:

3. CALIFORNIA RECALL: Californians signing enough petitions to set up an attempt to recall unpopular Democratic Gov. Gray Davis, then ousted Davis on Oct. 7 and replaced him with Arnold Schwarzenegger.

4. SARS: The first unsettling reports emerged from Asia in February of a new, unnamed disease. Within a few weeks, SARS was a household name. Roughly 780 died, though health experts generally were pleased with efforts to control the outbreak.

5. NORTHEAST BLACKOUT: A computer malfunctioned at an Ohio utility on Aug. 14, and North America's worst blackout swiftly spread through eight states and part of Canada.

6. IMPROVING ECONOMY: After a couple of trying years, the U.S. economy showed signs of revival -- the Dow Jones industrials closed above 10,000 for the first time in 18 months; the third-quarter growth rate was 8.2 percent, the best performance in 19 years.

7. CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES: Raging wildfires across much of southern California killed 22 people, scorched nearly 1 million acres and destroyed 4,800 homes and other buildings in October and early November.

8. BUSH TAX CUT: In May, Congress handed Bush a major victory by approving $330 billion in tax cuts through 2013 -- the third-largest tax cut in history.

9. ELIZABETH SMART: Nine months after she was abducted in Salt Lake City, 15-year-old Elizabeth Smart was found in March in a nearby suburb in the company of a homeless couple who now face kidnapping and sexual assault charges.

10. DEMOCRATIC CAMPAIGN: The field grew steadily to 10, then dropped back to nine, but it was the man leading in the polls -- former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean -- who became the focal point of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.