But then again, anyone who believes it was fair and honorable of you to accept more than $500,000 in "gifts" when your city remains a crucible of crime (double the state average), low test scores (half the state average, and often worse) and infant mortality (64 times the state average), is being foolish.
But demographic changes and strategic choices transformed Florida into the very crucible of the 2000 campaign, a state that both candidates decided they had to win.
12.08pm: There's a brand new poll from the crucible state of South Carolina, and here's the thing: it shows Mitt Romney with a big lead.
And though California is often celebrated as the crucible of trends, and other big states like Texas, Florida, New York and Illinois are on the road to becoming similarly diverse, demographers note that the nation will not catch up to California's diversity until midcentury, and even then small, interior states may remain disproportionately white.
Our experience working in rural Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, two of India's largest and poorest states, has been a crucible of learning and innovation for us, and we relish the challenge of applying these lessons to a new country.
We had lunch on a scorching Culiacán afternoon, and he recited with studied weariness the stages of his home state's emergence as the crucible of Mexico's drug crisis.
The real crucible of change is at warehouses, spread from New Jersey to the state of Washington.
"That commitment sustained us in the crucible of a horrible civil war in this country".
State and local governments have long been seen as the crucible of American democracy--the places where well-meaning programs crafted by federal officials get refined, translated and adapted to unique local needs.
Blue Nile is a crucible of tension because it fought alongside southern rebels during the latter years of South Sudan's long struggle for independence, and state politics there are dominated by the offshoot of the governing party in South Sudan.
