31.   So, they send me mail in the closing days of a campaign spilling nasty little secrets of candidates they oppose.

32.   Still, the dirty little accounting secret that neither party is likely to mention Wednesday is that, in the strictest sense, the budget is still not balanced.

33.   Ten years ago, when Edy, a mentor, was being battered by her husband, the topic was a dirty little secret.

34.   That little secret was safe until she was named in a lawsuit against her former lover.

35.   That winking coziness with racism has been the dirty little secret of Republican success not just regionally but, thanks to the Southern influx, nationally.

36.   The coach who likes to define his team by a pressing, trapping defense knows there is another dirty little secret in the NBA these days.

37.   The dirty little secret of this unpleasant opening of the baseball season is that the owners think they have found a silver lining to the lousy attendance.

38.   The dirty little secret of the business is that these are weapons made for the junior-high and street punk trades.

39.   The dirty little secret of the Contract With America is that it presses us uncomfortably close to eugenics, a political breeding policy.

40.   The dirty little secret of the Massachusetts Legislature is that two men make every decision.