The resurgence of Mr. Espada on the political scene is but the latest in a series of events that are exposing deep fissures within the well-honed party machine.

Now, outside the Capitol, USA Next is exposing fissures in strategy as well as substance.

To some extent, the War of Independence exposed political and religious fissures in Irish society.

A month after Iran's Government dissociated itself from death threats to the British author Salman Rushdie, the decision is still exposing fissures among Iran's rival centers of power.

At the same time, the caucus has continued to support the debate, exposing fissures in the party.

The coming week's reprisal of a debate that Mr. Bush thought he had put to rest is exposing deep fissures among Republicans as the November elections draw near.

The debate over the bill exposed serious fissures between the House and the Senate, and those differences were apparent Tuesday.

Great shards of the blue crystals, some as large as the missing shuttle, had broken through the walls, in some places exposing new fissures that reached all the way up to the surface.

So it's no surprise that the debate over imperialism has exposed deep fissures in the national conservative movement.

Anger has been building in Thailand since its economy crashed this summer, rousing the country with a jolt from a decade of heady growth and exposing deep and dangerous fissures in society.