Cliché corner   

( Cliche Corner Daily Double! )
"..in recent months the words 'diversity' and ' affirmative action ' have become hot-button oaths with little real meaning." ( Boston Herald )

"Over the coming months, affirmative action will become a political ' hot-button ' and wedge issue in this city and around this country." ( Kansas City Star )

"..politicians use hot-button issues like affirmative action and welfare reform to stir up deep-seated emotions in the white majority subconscious." ( Atlanta Journal and Constitution )

" Affirmative action is a hot-button issue dividing Democrats as well as Republicans." (CNN)

" Affirmative action , always a hot-button issue, is getting even hotter as the 1996 presidential campaign gets under way." ( Legal Times )

"The hot-button issues he has adopted as his own--crime, immigration, affirmative action and welfare reform--could make him the poster boy for angry white America.." ( Sacramento Bee )

From 145 Nexis references found during two weeks in April. Most mentioned affirmative action , though welfare reform, gun control and school lunch funding were found to be popular hot-buttons as well.