Mr. Pataki must take the primary blame for bringing the state to this juncture.

The Republican Governor and his aides have said the primary blame for the growing debt lies with the Legislature, particularly the Democrats who control the Assembly.

But the state must shoulder the primary blame.

"Unfortunately, Bertha, your precog absolves him of primary blame."

To the end, the President gave primary blame to his aides, including Mr. Mitchell, for Watergate and the cover-up.

The board, voting 3 to 0 with one member absent, placed primary blame for the accident on the vessel's captain, who was not identified.

Unlike his former colleague David Kay, he does not place primary blame for the rush to war on the world's intelligence services.

The primary blame for the accident has been laid to the ship's captain, Joseph J. Hazelwood, whose whereabouts are currently uncertain.

The board decided instead to put primary blame on what it saw as major procedural and technical shortcomings of the overall traffic control system.

The primary blame for the disappointment did not lie with Mr. Previn or the orchestra, of which he was music director from 1985 to 1989.