1.   Down to Earth, a straight talker, likable.

2.   He praised her as being a straight talker.

3.   In a world where words are parsed over endless diplomatic nuance, Holbrooke is a straight talker.

4.   Kopp said his dad, the legendary Grinch, and Ammiano, the starry-eyed leftie, have a lot in common as mavericks and straight talkers.

5.   More than ever, politicians are anxious to portray themselves as straight talkers.

6.   Questions about duplicity when a candidate who claims to be a straight talker lies about campaign tactics.

7.   She earned a reputation as state attorney in Miami-Dade County and as U.S. attorney general as a straight talker, unafraid to take on controversial issues.

8.   Voters say Bush is more of a straight talker than Gore, and that the governor usually says what he really believes.

9.   Whitworth, known as a straight talker who is often brought in to clean up management messes, may shake up the sleepy Mattel board.

10.   Of the four leading presidential candidates, McCain was seen as the straight talker in the CBS-Times poll.