He said he was "very grateful" to the voters who had turned out by the millions this week despite "acts of political intimidation."

Mr. Gordon says he does not particularly like President Clinton, who also gets lavished with high job-approval ratings despite egregious personal acts.

With a savvy for politics, charismatic bottom feeders like Billy Maidenshore often remained in power despite flagrant acts of betrayal.

Despite acts of vandalism, the interior of this building is still in good condition.

I think the Israeli Government has been trying to exercise restraint despite frequent acts of violence from terror groups like Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

This has happened despite acts of desperate terrorism by a fanatic core of Arabs and Jews who view these steps to peace as treason.

Despite ongoing acts of violence Iraq now has a strong prime minister, a national council and national elections are scheduled for January.

Yet Ms. Gross, her brother and her mother herself had so little power over the process despite continuous acts of advocacy.

A relatively successful parliamentary election last week, commended by observers despite isolated acts of violence, has renewed voters' faith in the electoral process.

In fact progress was accelerating despite increasing acts of sabotage and ecotage, because some of the new mining methods being put into use were quite radical, and very effective.