Britain, after all, has often pledged £800m.
Lebanon's President Elias Hrawi has often pledged that not a single bullet would be fired across the border from Lebanon should the Israelis withdraw.
While donors have often pledged to work together to integrate disease initiatives, the way global health programs are structured makes integration, or even cooperation, difficult.
To land the role of lead underwriter, investment banks often pledge to use their own capital to keep stocks at or above their offering prices.
They delivered the kind of quick-witted, counter-punching performance that has been often pledged, and seldom delivered, during Klinsmann's reign.
Russia's government has often pledged to support OPEC's moves to buoy prices, as it did in 1998, when it said it would trim exports.
Since permanently taking over from his brother Fidel two years ago, Mr. Castro has often pledged to make Cuba's centralized, Soviet-style economy more efficient and open up opportunities for people.
A nostalgic row broke out over the reluctance of some rich countries to reaffirm their aim to meet an aid target of 0.7% of GNP, so often pledged in those bygone days and so rarely achieved.
But the intimacy of the receptions (at homes and hotels), their transactional nature ($75,000 per couple is often pledged) and familiarity with that audience (usually filled with fellow businessmen and -women), appears to put Mr. Romney at ease.
Mr. McCain's supporters argue that he demonstrated the kind of bipartisan bridge-building that his Democratic rival for president, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois, has often pledged but seldom displayed.
