A crumb of consolation was that Carter's 144 break became the front runner for the £10,000 highest break prize.
If either Mantel or Waters has any interest in winning the 2009 Man Booker, they must hope that another dark horse (Simon Mawer's The Glass Room, perhaps) becomes the front runner.
While Alexis quickly became the front runner, concerns were raised that the name applied to people more than cars (being associated with the Alexis Carrington character on the popular 1980s primetime drama Dynasty), and as a result the first letter was removed and the "i" replaced with a "u" to morph the name to Lexus.
Mr. Scott has outspent Mr. McCollum 16 to 1 on television advertisements, and become the front-runner.
IN THE four weeks since Rick Perry, the governor of Texas, declared he was running for president, he has already become the front-runner for the Republican nomination.
But Mr. de Blasio, who polls show has recently become the front-runner, has had plenty of company shaking a fist at developers.
In mid-December, however, after Newt Gingrich sped ahead of Mitt Romney to become the front-runner, the darts turned into bullets.
If he is available, he will immediately become the front-runner to replace Bobby Valentine, who was fired two days after the end of the regular season.
"Especially if you become the front-runner, they're going to throw everything that you've done into the kitchen sink," he said.
