The attention he desperately needs, continued

That last post was about to go somewhere interesting, I think, but kind of missed its bus. It's surely true that we shouldn't be judging politicians harshly for needing attention ("And after all, isn't it something we all need?"), but that doesn't mean we shouldn't be judging them on the subject at all ("And aren't they trying to get it by being good?" Not all of them, Sunshine!).

"Tony Bennett, attention whore" from the somewhat eccentric, not to say appropriately named, Diary of a Mad Person

The naked neediness on Chuck Schumer's face as I saw it in 1998 is a part of who he is and how he's as effective as he is, [jump]

The attention he desperately needs

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]