He'd been proud to be one of the prime backers of the project, eager even to show the political powers why this was the right project to back.

Now Dr. Melvin Benarde, a prime local backer of the project, is looking for money.

"The political consequences in large parts of the country are very severe," said Mr. Schumer, a prime backer of the bill.

The development and its problems were a major factor in the sale of the prime backer, Trustcorp Inc. of Toledo, to another bank, Society Corp of Cleveland.

She had been a prime backer of the airport, and her investment firm, the Llama Company, underwrote the $80 million in bonds that financed it.

The gulf council, formed 10 years ago, was a prime backer of Iraq during its war against Iran from 1980 to 1988.

She called the bill "a calculated attempt to emasculate" the 1987 Freshwater Wetlands Protection Act, of which she was a prime backer.

The VHP has been a prime backer of the World Hindu Conference in which issues such as casteism, sectarianism, and the future of Hindus were discussed.

Maxim Zimin also signed to be part of the Nasha Formula driver development program with Gazprombank and Cordiant tires as the prime backers.

Patrick M. Byrne, an entrepreneur from Utah who founded Overstock.com, a retail Web site, is the group's prime financial backer, having pledged $1 million.