Sometimes, when she invokes her résumé, she stumbles badly, as in a debate in November, in Des Moines, when Sanders challenged her on her ties to Wall Street, and she invoked 9/11: "We were attacked in downtown Manhattan, where Wall Street is.
Ms. Quinn, a Democrat, drew scattered cheers when she invoked the effort to pass immigration legislation in Washington.
This is what she was getting at, on a conference call with Brooklyn, when she invoked another character, "Patsey the slave," the woman played by Lupita Nyong'o in "12 Years a Slave".
It is curious to recall, in this context, the way warriors of the cultural right tried to skewer Hillary Rodham Clinton when she invoked Rabbi Michael Lerner's term "the politics of meaning".
Rather, it was when she invoked a "Saturday Night Live" skit from last Saturday that showed television journalists fawning over Mr. Obama, another example of her campaign's increasing frustration over what it considers unbalanced coverage of the Democratic race.
On another topic, though, a campaign spokesman, Bryan Flood, said Mrs. Clinton had failed to gain any traction when she invoked Mr. Lazio's ties to Mr. Gingrich in the past.
Barr prompted the controversy early Tuesday when she invoked "The Planet of the Apes" and the Muslim Brotherhood to describe Valerie Jarrett, a former aide to President Obama.
I know I am speaking to an authentic networker when he or she invokes the law of reciprocity: "I'll scratch your back, if you scratch mine".
In her speeches, she invokes lofty ideals, when doubtless she's often motivated by expedience.
With regularity, she invokes the word "trust" when referring to Mr. Sanford.
The prime minister has so far been determined not to reveal the precise date when she plans to invoke the formal two-year mechanism for leaving the EU, saying only that she will begin Brexit by the end of March.
