NEWSWEEK COVER: 'Who's Next' 2005

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A F NEWSWEEK NEWSWEEK In its "Who's Next" year-end double issue, Newsweek names those people who will be making news in 2005. Newly elected Illinois senator and rising political star Barack Obama is on the cover of the December 27 issue (on ...

    NEW YORK, Dec. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In its annual "Who's Next" year-end
 double issue, Newsweek names those people who will be making news in the
 months and years ahead. Newly elected Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, on the cover
 of the December 27 issue (on newsstands Monday, December 20), is featured not
 only because he will inevitably make most shortlists for vice president in
 2008, but also because he has the "star power" to work with the GOP on
 bridging Red-Blue divisions and getting some things done for the country.
     (Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20041219/NYSU003 )
     Obama is fully prepared to step into a leadership role for the Democratic
 Party, reports Senior Editor Jonathan Alter. Obama stops short of calling for
 a "religious left" to counter the political power of the religious right, but
 he wants the party to reconnect to what he sees as its roots in a moral
 imperative: "This shouldn't be hard to do. Martin Luther King did it. The
 abolitionists did it. Dorothy Day [of the Catholic Workers] did it. Most of
 the reform movements that have changed this country have been grounded in
 religious models. We don't have to start from scratch." The task now, Obama
 says, is for Democrats to "reclaim and reassert in very explicit language that
 our best ideas rise out of communal values," a process that Obama began in his
 now famous keynote speech at the Democratic convention in July.
     In addition to Obama, the "Who's Next" lineup includes people who will be
 making headlines in the coming year in the realms of politics, business,
 media, fashion, sports, art, education, entertainment and technology. Those
 cited include:
 
     * Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, the third-ranking Republican in a
       majority soon to expand to 55 members and a point man on hot-button
       issues ranging from gay marriage to Social Security. Santorum's
       combatively devout approach is one Republicans are hoping will expand
       their control in the decade ahead by winning over traditional Catholics
       in Great Lakes states and Hispanic voters everywhere-and one Santorum
       has told friends he thinks can propel him to the presidency someday.
 
     * Andrea Jung, CEO of Avon, whose sales have jumped 45 percent (from $5.3
       billion to a projected $7.7 billion in 2004) since Jung took over in
       1999. Jung has poured millions into research and development, overhauled
       the colors, textures and packaging of Avon products, developed a new
       line for young women and expanded into overseas markets. Now her name is
       cropping up on shortlists of candidates to turn around even bigger
       companies.
 
     * Tom Castro, the founder of Border Media Partners, the nation's largest
       privately held Hispanic radio company. Recognizing that Spanish-language
 
       radio is a jewel amid a dreary media sector, investors have poured $240
       million so far into BMP, which Castro calls "probably the most powerful
       force in American radio."
 
     * Julie Mehretu, a 34-year-old artist whose ambitious canvases have earned
       her attention as a significant emerging talent. One of Mehretu's
       abstract paintings now hangs in New York's Museum of Modern Art.
 
     * Thom Browne, a menswear designer whose hand-tailored clothing, sold in a
       few high-end shops, is made to look good and wear well over time. "My
       clothing is not retro at all. But it's inspired by a true American
       sensibility of the '50s and early '60s," says Browne.
 
     * Michelle Monaghan, a 27-year-old actress from a tiny farming town in
       northeast Iowa who stars in next year's "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" (with
       Robert Downey Jr.) and "Syriana" (with George Clooney).
 
     * Susan Hockfield, a neurobiologist who in August was named MIT's first
       female president. Women run many prestigious universities, but it is
       still a very big deal when a woman presides over one of the world's most
       elite scientific institutions. Hockfield is the first life scientist to
       run MIT, and that distinction might matter most in the era of burgeoning
       interdisciplinary research.
 
     * Craig Newmark, the founder of the wildly popular Internet bulletin board
       craigslist. Six million people every month use Newmark's free service to
       search for jobs, apartments and mates. Newmark's current task is to
       manage the list's meteoric growth while maintaining what he refers to as
       "nerd values."
 
     * Donald Young, an African-American tennis phenom who has evoked
       comparisons not only to fellow lefty John McEnroe, but to most every
       American star of recent vintage.
 
     A "Where Are They Now?" section catches up with some of Newsweek's past
 picks for "Who's Next," a feature the magazine first began in 2001. The
 section contains updates on former Who's Next-ers like political satirist Jon
 Stewart, last year's cover choice; Alberto Gonzales, a 2002 pick whom
 President Bush recently nominated for Attorney General; Bill Frist, a 2001
 pick who is now the Senate majority leader; Sarah Hughes, a 2001 pick who won
 the gold medal in ladies' figure skating at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games;
 Freddy Adu, a 2002 choice who became the youngest player in the history of
 Major League Soccer; and San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom, a 2003 pick who
 made headlines this year for authorizing gay marriages in his city.
 
     The special issue also features the annual "Perspectives" roundup, a
 review of the year's best cartoons and quotes.
 
              http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6732724/site/newsweek /
 
                (Read entire cover package at www.Newsweek.com.)
 
 

SOURCE  Newsweek