She was possibly Mayor David N. Dinkins's most crucial supporter in the 1989 election.

Here, too, any instinct toward a bipartisan package of workplace protections more acceptable to business yielded to the starker goal of handing a quick reward to crucial supporters and contributors.

He has remained a crucial supporter of the Miliband leadership, refusing to follow in the footsteps of those union leaders who have become critical.

Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York, the chairman of the Joint Economic Committee, is another crucial supporter.

Mr. Brown, 79, has been a crucial supporter of manned and unmanned space exploration.

The bridge to Sinn Fein's crucial American supporters needed mending.

The Soviet Union was the crucial supporter of the African National Congress until the collapse of Communism in 1991.

Just as important, he was a crucial early supporter of the young queen, Elizabeth, who rewarded his loyalty handsomely.

They said, however, that he would likely have to consult more closely than before with crucial supporters of the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party in order to keep it together.

Guston considered the Andersons crucial supporters during that period of transition.