But unlike his ill-prepared defense before the Senate panel, a well-briefed Secretary Babbitt today immediately went on the offensive, repeatedly sparring with his Republican antagonists.

The two sparred repeatedly about who was most accurate in projecting city revenues.

Tusk and Kaczyński repeatedly sparred over issues ranging from European integration, homosexuality, foreign policy, to constitutional issues, with Tusk taking more socially liberal opinions than the conservative Kaczyński.

SHORT-LIVED DECORUM - Democrats and Republicans sparred repeatedly as they tried either to savage or laud Kenneth Starr.

In the governor's race in Michigan this fall, the candidates repeatedly sparred over how best to combat "brain drain."

And when I watched a montage of him repeatedly sparring with Simon, I could see why these two alpha-males were seated far apart, on opposite ends of the judges' table.

Kerry and Bush sparred repeatedly over Kerry's expression of his policy.

Michele Bachmann, the Republican member of Congress from Minnesota, repeatedly sparred with Gingrich.

Ms. Brown, a former official at the Consumer Federation of America, sparred repeatedly with manufacturers, opening investigations into products and proposing rules that prodded industries to formulate their own guidelines.

In a full day of testimony, Democrats and Republicans sparred repeatedly as they tried to either savage or laud the independent counsel Kenneth W. Starr, the leadoff witness and the man who spearheaded today's impeachment proceedings.