41.   Fueling the black anger, Ms. Clark-Frieson said, was the way the school board and the larger community closed ranks around the embattled principal.

42.   He went on to predict that the country would close ranks against outsiders and become more defiant.

43.   His theory of a Greater Vinland is nearly as daring, coming just as other prominent scholars have closed ranks around a minimalist account of the Norse journeys.

44.   Honest exchanges are best kept private so that when a policy is formed all sides can publicly close ranks behind it.

45.   House and Senate Republicans began discussing their proposals to rein in rising Medicare costs with a blast at the Democratic Party and a call to Republicans to close ranks.

46.   House Republicans quickly closed ranks behind Gingrich and said his payment should put the ethics controversy to rest.

47.   However, after the voters took a good look at some of those surprise upstarts, they appear to have closed ranks behind the original establishment candidate.

48.   His supporters will close ranks.

49.   I think the people are ready to close ranks.

50.   In a party eager to avoid splits, virtually all major figures have closed ranks behind Landry in his bid to succeed Bouchard.