1.   Several speakers took the podium that night.

2.   And it is with the symphony that he will take the podium Thursday night in the first of two nearly sold-out performances at Carnegie Hall in New York.

3.   And until last Sunday, he had been the last American male to take the podium in a technical division with an international field.

4.   Arafat took the podium amid security measures that some Harvard officials described as unprecedented.

5.   As he took the podium to a standing ovation, he complimented her for speeches and campaign appearances on his behalf.

6.   As Jose Rivera took the podium to remember his brother, who died while staying at Willowbrook, the faces of many parents and siblings grew quiet and drawn.

7.   As Parcells had done, so did Kraft when he took the podium.

8.   As the program opened, the usually imposing and serious Jim Clyburn, the Democratic congressman from South Carolina who chairs the caucus, took the podium.

9.   Baum took the podium at the start of the meeting for a brief brainstorming session about anthrax.

10.   Best chant of the day came during the Texas delegation breakfast when State Treasurer Martha Whitehead, who leaves office Sunday, took the podium.