But a distant runner-up, surely, in this race.
Arizona's Brandon Webb, last year's winner, was a distant runner-up with 94 points.
NBC was a distant runner-up, garnering a season high for "Chuck" (7.6 million) and 7.8 million viewers for "Heroes".
Mr. McCain even played down his stunning upsets in the New Hampshire and Michigan primaries, calling himself "a distant runner-up".
CBS was a distant runner-up on the night with "Big Brother" at 8 (6.6 million) and a repeat of "CSI" at 9 (7.3 million).
Lion Heart was second in the Kentucky Derby and Rock Hard Ten was a distant runner-up behind Smarty Jones in the Preakness.
The success of that veal special prompted me to go with another a week later, this one a rolled saddle of veal stuffed with spinach and mushrooms and onions - it was a distant runner-up.
But part of their optimism seems based on the belief or hope that Toronto will not bid again, and the Canadian city, a distant runner-up to Beijing in voting by the International Olympic Committee, has not ruled out a repeat bid for 2012.
While Friendster has sputtered out in the U.S. (it's a distant runner-up to social networking groups like Facebook and MySpace, controlled by U.S. billionaires Mark Zuckerberg and Rupert Murdoch, respectively) it is doing well in Asia, where 90% of its daily site traffic originates.
Yemen was a distant runner-up with 55 guns per 100 people, 40percentt less than the U.S. rate.
CBS fared best, finishing a very distant runner-up thanks in part to the strength of "60 Minutes," which drew 5 million viewers at 8 p.m., according to Nielsen's estimate.
