And given the presence of a credible, reasonably capable rival, Romney's slow-but-steady path to the nomination is the path that he was pretty much guaranteed to have to take.
I've been saying since day one that this is very smart move for J.K. Rowling to expand her saturation in the lives of fans (she might be growing into a capable rival for George Lucas and the world of Star Wars... but probably not).
Third, Afghanistan did little to educate the Pentagon on how a more capable military rival might adjust to unmanned systems.
Dante himself made an important contribution to the debate on what should constitute a volgare illustre (an "illustrious popular speech") capable of rivaling Latin for literary and scholarly purposes.
The so-called "Sacred and Profane Love" of 1512 15 (Borghese Gallery, Rome) is, in a sense, Titian's trial piece in which he shows himself capable of rivaling and surpassing Giorgione in Giorgione's own terms.
This was an incredible attainment at that time, when we had no visual artists of any real merit, for instance, and no sculptors and few architects capable of rivalling the Europeans.
Most notable was the formation of a national league, Serie A. The intent was twofold: firstly, to forge a sense of national identity and, secondly, to create a stronger, more competitive structure that would result in a national team capable of rivalling the best.
And that vision became clearer with the launch of the G1, the first phone to use Google's Android operating system, and perhaps the only one capable of rivaling the iPhone's buzzing cloud of media hype.
It occupied a small space, tucked in the rear of the LA Convention Center, but Naughty America may just have had the one booth capable of rivaling Nintendo's for sheer show buzz.
