21.   Now, however, the government has hardened its position.

22.   Rather than playing to the TV audience, hardening positions in the process, senators spoke calmly and constructively.

23.   So Al Gore is hardening his position.

24.   Tension builds as Deputy Sheriff Lester Burdon gets drawn more deeply into the snare, and Lazaro and Behrani harden their positions.

25.   The arms discovery in London caused politicians on all sides to harden their positions.

26.   The bloodshed of the last two weeks has hardened the positions of both men.

27.   The chief European negotiator, the former Swedish Prime Minister Carl Bildt, said Sunday that all sides were hardening their positions before the talks.

28.   The possibility of a strike at Caracas subway workers loomed closer as both sides hardened their positions, presenting the government with its first labor challenge of the year.

29.   Then Berlusconi, who has swung back and forth on the budget, hardened his position.

30.   This declaration invited those who opposed the United States, chiefly Arab countries, to harden their positions, officials of human rights groups said.