Tonight's was the sort of exchange candidates claim to want: a polite, serious discussion of issues.

Or when the answer should lead to polite discussions about freedom, rights and self-determination.

Perhaps because so few came, it was also the most polite discussion yet on the $4.2 billion residential, commercial and arena project.

But her friends say this necessity fits her preference; she actually likes argument better than polite discussion.

This was a few years ago, when such items were still not the subject of polite discussion.

Ms. Norman even turned lunch into a family meal, complete with proper place settings, polite discussion and enforced manners.

It was, in essence, an invasion of privacy, a subject unfit for polite discussion.

So far, however, East-West action on this issue has gone no farther than polite discussions.

She suggests polite but pointed private discussions ahead of time with potential troublemakers.

On one level the debate can be seen as a polite discussion of political theory among the members of a small group of intellectuals.