McCain is defending his ticket today. In Missouri. Yesterday he was in Iowa. These are not electoral votes the GOP should be defending with five weeks left in the campaign. And they know it. If you think the accusations and lies have been nasty and over-the-top so far, you ain't seen nothing yet.
Sun Tsu, the venerable Chinese philosopher--was in my humble opinion--also the world's first real game theorist. His analysis of war can be translated into many arenas, but it is particularly applicable to political campaigning. For instance, his discussion of how one of your opponent's rations is worth two of your own directly parallels the impacts of "stealing" voters and donors from your opponent: Every gain for you is also a loss for your opponent.
Of particular interest are Sun Tsu's words on "Killing Ground," or when one is forced into a cul-de-sac, left with no options, cornered, and nearly defeated. Sun Tsu warns that on Killing Ground, one's opponent has nothing left to lose. With his life on the line he will fight his hardest, take the most risks, and be at his most dangerous. Sun Tsu warns that it will take five men to take his one. Sun Tsu warns against putting one's opponent on Killing Ground.
Game theory agrees. In situations where cooperation--a Nash Equilibrium (see A Beautiful Mind for a great example)--isn't possible, and it's the last game in a series, it is in one's best interest to beat down one's competitors to maximize gain. It's in one's best interest to cheat, stab in the back, and otherwise behave dishonorably. They won't be coming back to play another round, so you are incentivized to do whatever it takes to win.
John McCain is on Killing Ground. He is also faced with his last game. His campaign is being routed in the national polls, and he's being forced out of the battleground states to defend his own turf. He's getting mean, nasty, and rude. Conservative pundits are calling for him to "go negative," as though his campaign has been positive. His campaign flaks are warning that they plan to run more Ayers- and Wright-based advertisements. They're desperate. And they're going to get dangerous.
In a political campaign that one is winning, one has no choice but to put one's opponent on Killing Ground. We are the troops in this fight, and now that the GOP is scared, it's going to take five of our campaigners to counter their one desperate one.
We're going for the jugular, taking the fight to them on their own turf. It's going be ugly, it's going to be racist, and we better be ready for it.
Thanks for reading,
SPX