Mr. Elmendorf refused to guess why Mr. Edwards had outpaced Mr. Kerry among independents, saying he had not seen the surveys of voters leaving the polls.
But senators on the committee refused to guess about the future of Mr. Verniero's career as a justice on the New Jersey State Supreme Court, a post he ascended to by a single vote after serving as Gov. Christie Whitman's attorney general.
"It could sell for a lot of money". He refused to guess how much, but he cited the current record price for a baseball, $93,500, which the actor Charlie Sheen paid for the ball that the Mets' Mookie Wilson hit between the legs of Boston's Bill Buckner to score the winning run in Game 6 of the 1986 World Series.
During the interview he even refused to guess what percentage of Freedom Works' total budget came from corporations.
Mr Harper went on to say that the Irwell had been well stocked with fish along its whole length 100 years ago but refused to guess when it would reach the same state again.
"I refuse to venture a guess at when life begins," Hvistendahl writes in her book's introduction.
But triads are also deeply involved in organized crime: drugs, gambling, vice and protection rackets". Police refuse even to guess how many members belong to the 50 to 60 separate triad societies now active among Hong Kong's 5.5 million people, but as recently as 1960 it was estimated that one in every six residents belonged to one.
General Joyenda, a forthright man who wears a tie into combat, refused even to guess about enemy casualties.
When Labour's John Mann challenged him on this, Osborne said he did not know the figure and he refused even to guess.
Bill Galston, a former policy adviser to President Bill Clinton, refused to hazard a guess.
Even the authorities have refused to hazard a guess about its provenance, although the early consensus has settled on a prank intended to attract media attention.
