1.   He was an agreeable man with a small private fortune and a look of poverty.

2.   Mitt Romney, the former Republican Senate nominee who contributed large amounts of his private fortune to his campaign against Sen.

3.   Critics also say the system creates private fortunes while taxpayers pay twice for resulting benefits.

4.   His quietly acquired private fortune is illustrative of changes in the political culture here.

5.   Millions of dollars in government revenue and potential private fortunes may ride on each decision.

6.   Nobody could figure out why he was running in the first place, beyond the fact that his private fortune made it possible for him to do so.

7.   Pretending to be representatives of the common man, Democratic political warlords ignored the little people while amassing power and private fortunes.

8.   The regulators struggled for almost two years to understand the transactions, guessing finally that they might have been intended to hide the private fortunes of Chinese officials.

9.   Then came Soviet rule, when the oil still flowed but the chance to make a private fortune evaporated.

10.   These corporate alliances build huge private fortunes but almost never contribute to any real national development.