21.   The wedge issue is gender.

22.   There was no mean-spirited ranting about this enemy and that, no scapegoating of the beleaguered, no talk about wedge issues, no coded language.

23.   They downplayed the marginal wedge issues that the social reformers in the GOP right wing love and many voters find threatening.

24.   They see this as a wedge issue that will propel them back into the White House and extend their sway in Congress.

25.   Unlike past Republican presidential nominees, Gov. George W. Bush has not sought to use school prayer as a wedge issue.

26.   Watch for the corporate lobbyists to use wedge issues like this one to undercut privacy legislation.

27.   Wedge issues are locked away, at least for now.

28.   Without race as a wedge issue, the solid black Democratic vote became a powerful advantage in key states.

29.   Although both parties use Social Security as a wedge political issue, proponents of the commission said they would keep at it.

30.   Bush, Gorton and the Republicans think the dams could be an even bigger wedge issue.