Here, Scotland had 73 minutes to win the match and led for a total of 17 minutes, including at the interval when they had unsettled Wales by aggressively contesting high kicks, Tommy Seymour in particular, and retaining possession, even if not much space was created.
The unorthodox and ultimately fatal strategy of not aggressively contesting the early-voting states like Iowa and South Carolina prevented Giuliani from consolidating any significant national constituency that could now be re-directed toward McCain in his battle against Mitt Romney.
Aggressively contesting every foul and infraction assessed to your side, no matter how deserved it may have been, and in the end, the unmitigated barrage may result in a psychological reaction on the part of the referees, who (being only human) then begin to feel that they have been unfairly calling the game.
Add to the media mix a fiercely competitive United States Senate race and a bevy of aggressively contested state contests and ballot questions, and the television dial seems tuned to a schedule of all political commercials all the time.
Eager to restore a Republican Congress, Mr. Bush himself has jumped aggressively into the contests, shattering fund-raising records and helping recruit the G.O.P. Senate field.
That advertisement will be shown in Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Missouri, North Carolina, New Mexico, Nevada, Ohio and Virginia — all Republican states in 2004 that Mr. Obama is contesting aggressively this time — and Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Democratic states four years ago that Mr. McCain is trying to win over.
Mr. Clinton did not contest Florida aggressively in 1992 and narrowly lost it.
In a sign of how aggressively Republicans intend to contest seats in the Northeast, Mr. Altschuler, the Republican candidate on Long Island, has already begun running television advertisements attacking Mr. Bishop.
The state, which has become a partisan battleground in recent years, is considered to be leaning toward Gov. George W. Bush of Texas, the presumptive Republican nominee, but not by enough to keep Mr. Gore from contesting it aggressively.
While the Edwards campaign has been frugal with its resources, campaign finance experts say the operation will have to work extremely hard to keep money coming in to compete aggressively in the next contests.
