They paint the populist hero as crazy or deceitful.

But the borough chiefs are not the populist heroes they pretend to be.

And true to the spirit of the film's director, Frank Capra, Mathews becomes a reformed husband and a populist hero at the end.

But be frank: wasn't it much more difficult deciding against a blunt and irascible mayor, and, in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, a populist hero?

His efforts to end the Chechen war combined with promises to fight crime and end corruption made him a populist hero.

Mr. Bowie's theatricality subverted the notion of the rock star as an authentic populist hero by suggesting that all rock preening and strutting was really just a pose.

In Newark on Monday, Mr. James was the populist hero at his lavish inauguration to his fifth - count 'em, five - term as mayor.

"He was a populist hero," said Robert Ringland, a Common Pleas judge in nearby Clermont County who grew up next door to young Stanley Gray, who became known as Buddy.

Leopold Nettles (Kopřiva) - a professor, philosopher and author whose writing made him a populist hero; however, continued state surveillance and the fear of imminent imprisonment has rendered him an increasingly neurotic recluse.

To quote everyone's favorite populist hero himself: "To the tables, everybody, and stuff yourselves!"