Among their 61 other holdings are assorted moneylosers, has-beens, polluters, jilted merger candidates and corporations with troubled factories.

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He would do Europeans a favour by refusing to let his commission become a retirement home for political has-beens.

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They star ex-models, ex-sports stars, would-be Marilyns, future Presidents (and First Ladies), dead rock stars, and has-beens of all types.

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So is the record of this two-and-a-half-year-old Manhattan shop run by veterans McGarry, 62, and Bowen, 55--both written off as has-beens.

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Drained of talent, Coke is run by has-beens and relatively recent hires.

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But it is to suggest that, after 18 years in power, the number of disappointed ex-ministers and never-have-beens on the Tory backbenches has increased.

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Likewise, Motherland (fresh, young leaders) is thought to have lured voters from the Communists and Yabloko (old has-beens) thanks largely to Mr Rogozin's performance on television.

ECONOMIST: The Russian elections

The teams, the tactics and the might-have-beens are all here.

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Of greater concern beyond the current contest is the lesson the current whack-a-mole nomination process has delivered for future political wannabes and former-elected has-beens hoping for their own 15 minutes of fame.

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Drained of talent like Charles Frenette, a highly regarded head of European operations who quit in August, and Jack L. Stahl, a well-liked company veteran who served as president and second-in-command and was stripped of his authority last March, Coke is run by has-beens and relatively recent hires.

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