11.   Kearney, a demanding perfectionist who has made the Longhorns a perennial national contender, has softened her approach to Perry because of the personal issues.

12.   Nativists such as Pat Buchanan, a perennial presidential contender, argue that the great American assimilation machine is broken beyond repair.

13.   Now, it is a bedrock franchise, a perennial contender that plays in the perpetually sold-out Jacobs Field.

14.   The Marlins could be perennial contenders.

15.   The Longhorns were perennial national contenders.

16.   They had a young, deep roster that the front office expected to grow together into a perennial contender.

17.   Those other perennial contenders of years past, Utah and Indiana?

18.   As Brazil contemplates a possible second-round encounter with perennial contender Italy or South American rival Chile, neither prospect causes apprehension.

19.   Besides Carolina in the NFC, the perennial contenders, Dallas and San Francisco, have their own problems.

20.   Duquette has built the Red Sox into a perennial contender.