The Fighting Irish stayed atop the rankings ahead of both the mighty Spartans (who had four of the top eight picks in the next NFL draft) and a Tide team that posted a perfect record in the quest for an unprecedented third straight championship (to this day, no team has finished No. 1 in The Associated Press rankings three years in a row).
Blitzer is the author of two books, Between Washington and Jerusalem: A Reporter's Notebook (Oxford University Press, 1985) and Territory of Lies (Harper and Row, 1989).
Mr Chirac's condition would also rule out a president from Ireland, Denmark, Sweden and all ten new member states. (That would put paid to the putative candidacies of Bertie Ahern, the Irish prime minister, and his countryman Pat Cox, the outgoing president of the European Parliament.) The row over the presidency threatens to distract from finalising the constitutional text itself.