1.   He said he voted against the crime bill because it included items he opposed, such as midnight basketball programs.

2.   Congress has been giving the crime bill serious consideration.

3.   This is the toughest crime bill that Congress has passed in a decade.

4.   Among the dead are casino gambling, home equity lending, a tougher hate crimes bill and looser no-smoking rules.

5.   And a pending new crime bill would impose further rules bound to put more bums in prison and keep them there longer.

6.   And in the House, nearly half of the legislators who recently voted to kill the crime bill because of the social spending also voted for the defense measure.

7.   And the shifting political alliances on the crime bill left many voters wondering who to trust.

8.   And the new crime bill presents just that opportunity.

9.   And the Republican offer carried the continuing threat of a filibuster that would tie up the crime bill if it fell short of Republican expectations, Mitchell said.

10.   And what does the new crime bill do about this?