The fall campaign began with Mr. Corzine looking like the incumbent in the race and his aides confidently predicting that he would coast to victory.

But in the Soviet Union such authority is thought to be vested only in top Kremlin officials, mainly the President and his military aides.

Have you called in your top aides and said, "What do you know about this?"

That is a skill Mr. Baker especially appreciates in his aides.

Yet factors remain, both substantive and political, that pull the party in the opposite direction, lawmakers and their aides said.

Predictably, once Mr. Clinton saw his words in cold print the next day, he and his aides hopped around denying their plain meaning.

In those days, a leader took responsibility in public and his aides spread the blame only in private.

But this was a bad night for bringing in The Shadow's aides.

"I thank the Upper House for the confidence it has signified in me and my aides."

Then I called in my aides and told them what would happen the next time they pulled a trick like that.