41.   Since being plucked from the waters off South Florida, Elian Gonzalez has become the ultimate international political football.

42.   Since being plucked from the waters off South Florida on Thanksgiving Day, Elian Gonzalez has become the ultimate international political football.

43.   The clash over its replacement has become a political football with Canadian officials accusing the Americans of arrogance, and American officials dismissing the Canadians as parochial.

44.   The case has become a political football here.

45.   The census has a rich history as a political football.

46.   The issue is a political football, but Khripunov says no one has offered a real solution.

47.   The King Day issue became an instant political football.

48.   The labyrinthine nature of the funding process and the unlikelihood of any outcome other than the continuance of the NEA supports a theory of the NEA as political football.

49.   The House Democratic leader, Rep. Dick Gephardt of Missouri, said the president had turned Medicare into a political football.

50.   The issue has already become a political football.