The Top 10 Everything of 2008

1. Eliot Spitzer Resigns Post-Hooker

One minute he was the hard-charging New York governor whose political future seemed limitless. The next he was "Client #9," a late-night host's punch line. In March, in the wake of revelations that Spitzer, 49, had met with a $1,000-an-hour call girl named Ashley Alexandra Dupré and patronized a high-priced prostitution ring multiple times, the Democrat announced that he would resign his post as governor. "I cannot allow for my private failings to disrupt the people's work," Spitzer said at a news conference in New York City, with his stricken-looking wife, Silda, by his side. Months later Spitzer was working in his father's real estate firm and Dupré was telling People magazine, "I think he's been punished enough." To his wife, Dupré said, "I'm sorry for your pain."

Connect to this TIME Story