More revealing, however, was the more awkward and equivocal reaction of newspapers closer to the centre, reflecting the reluctance of many commentators and interest groups to incur Mr Berlusconi's wrath, in the expectation that he will win.

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Then, as now, Kucinich dared uniquely to be unabashedly liberal, which stirred blogosphere support for the man but generated almost no expectation that he might actually win.

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There's still an expectation at Ibrox that Rangers can win that.

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The pre-match expectation had been that Gammer and Williams would win through to face each other in the semi-finals in a repeat of their March 2007 clash in which William had taken Gammer's British crown.

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