The phrase was used by Mara Liasson on NPR this morning, and to be understood as horse race language--for the attention that will come to a candidate if he gets more votes relative to some other candidate than she was expecting him to, which will apparently contribute to his getting still more votes somewhere else; the desperation would be at the thought of not getting those votes, of being no longer "in the running", and it doesn't sound like the right word, at least as long as you don't think about the money at stake, and I don't think these very high rollers habitually do.
But it made me think of a humbler context,[jump]
But it made me think of a humbler context,[jump]
