The President went on to emphasize a point that his aides have sought to make: the issue is one of basic civil rights, not of sexual behavior.

In the second part of the ritual, the aides seek to come close to awakening the ritualist through sexual stimulation alone.

Ms. Lowey and her aides sought yesterday, if tentatively, to telegraph what kind of campaign she might run.

Today, however, the President and his top aides sought to shift attention from the ordeal of that search to a celebration of its culmination.

Even after her aides sought to cut off the session, she came back to answer more questions.

His aides, however, sought to turn the topic to Mr. Corzine's advantage.

The President's decision, Administration officials said, indicated the degree to which aides sought to keep the events from being characterized as a crisis.

Mr. Giuliani's aides sought for the first time to set up a meeting between the mayor and state Conservative Party leaders.

And in closed meetings, other aides have sought to water it down, people involved in the review said.

Mr. Abrams said the problem was discovered when his aides sought to learn what had happened to repurchased cars.