But it was not the crippling setback it could have been.
One senior Bush official said that while the governor could endure a defeat here next Saturday, it would be a crippling setback with the potential to lead major supporters to defect to Mr. McCain.
"It's a setback, but it's by no means a crippling setback," said Harvey Lichtenstein, the chairman of the two-year-old nonprofit development corporation, which is coordinating a 10-year, $560 million plan to create a cultural district of theaters, dance studios, loft housing and performance spaces.
The resulting German-occupied territory held 64% of France's pig-iron production, 24% of its steel manufacturing and 40% of the total coal mining capacity, dealing a serious, but not crippling setback to French industry.
His departure is seen not only as a crippling blow to Democratic efforts to regain control of the Senate but also as a setback to across-the-aisle cooperation, which is increasingly rare these days.
He endured galling professional setbacks and crippling attacks of gout with the same philosophical equanimity, if not acquiescence.
Campaigns to eliminate the crippling disease in those countries have suffered serious setbacks over the past year.
"Every new case of polio is a personal tragedy, and every new case is a setback in our global fight to defeat this crippling, deadly disease," said Mr. Lake.
The suspension of the UN vaccination drive is a major setback for a campaign that international health officials consider vital to contain the crippling disease but which Taliban insurgents say is a cover for espionage.
For Zuckerman, by reinvigorating inter-war hyperbole about the powers of bombing to induce crippling fear in the civilian population, the 'misuse' of the Hull survey represented a clear setback in his campaign to use science to slay myth.
