Recent weeks have seen this feminist of vaguely aristocratic provenance, not only a native of the capital but an MP for one of its constituencies, side with the left of the party on such wedge issues as bankers' pay and the planned part-privatisation of the Post Office.
If only he had done it earlier in the campaign, Mr. McCain's on-camera tongue-lashing of the celebrity news hound Maria Shriver -- "as recognizable a personality as NBC News has," in the lukewarm description of her colleague Brian Williams -- could have won over the considerable constituency that sides with the mad-as-hell Peter Finch railing against the TV news gods in "Network".
Wedge politics unites a large constituency on one side, while splitting the coalition on the other side.
Secrecy ensures there is no vocal constituency on the side of privacy.
In other words, the prescription drug compromise allowed Democrats to further consolidate the senior constituency on the side of more generous government handouts.
Second, Putin is a favorite figure among the far right in the United States — white supremacists protesting the removal of a statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville last Saturday, for instance, chanted "Russia is our friend" — and Trump wanted this constituency on his side during the campaign.
Given the current disproportion of grievances – and aggrieved constituencies – on their side, and the relative weakness of their bargaining position vis-a-vis Israel, it has always been true, though often wilfully ignored by both the Israelis and the Americans, that the greatest burden of risk falls upon the Palestinian leadership.
Strong constituencies on each side of Ariel Sharon's concrete wall oppose an agreement in which they must compromise on any single issue.
Yet, despite the growing pragmatic view, the psychological disposition of the Palestinians remains locked in place and a significant constituency on both sides continues to oppose any effort to reconcile their historical perspectives.
Even the motives of the constituencies presumably on your side – customers, employees, founders and early investors – are not always perfectly aligned.
