Political spoils that aren't worth winning

Vice President Lien Chan (連戰) is currently competing with former Taiwan Provincial Governor James Soong (宋楚瑜) for three groups of voters: the KMT's anti-Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) elders,the KMT's middle-aged generation of high-ranking officials who have not yet taken sides and local faction leaders.

Lien has been making great efforts to solicit support from the so-called "non-mainstream" party elders and it looks like he has had some success.

Former independent presidential candidate and former Judicial Yuan president Lin Yang-kang (林洋港), his running mate and former premier Hau Pei-tsun (郝柏村) and former Control Yuan president Chen Lu-an (陳履安) are among those who have either expressed support for Lien or declared themselves neutral.

Lien has never been an adversary of these party elders because he was not involved in their power struggle with Lee. So it is difficult for them to draw a line between themselves and Lien.

These elders also lost a lot of their power in their fight with Lee. Even if they call on their old followers to vote for Lien, not many will respond. However, if they were all to join the Soong camp it would publicly humiliate Lien. So Lien still has to fight for their backing.

Meanwhile, KMT officials who have not yet taken sides such as former Legislative Yuan president Liu Sung-fan (劉松藩) and former Kaohsiung mayor Wu Tun-yi (吳敦義) tend to overestimate their influence by using votes as their bargaining chips. The KMT despises these opportunists and has no intention of compromising, unless these men are willing to return to the fold. Lien is probably ready to give them up to Soong.

Both Lien and Soong are making an all-out effort to win the support of local faction leaders, especially independents such as Yunlin Commissioner Chang Jung-wei (張榮味) and Miaoli County Commissioner Fu Hsueh-peng (傅學鵬). Soong made good use of his tenure as governor to solidify his support among them. If Lien just asks for their support without making any promises, he definitely will lose. Only by giving favors to these local leaders can Lien draw even.

So these are what Lien and Soong are fighting for. Those who are waiting until the last moment to put in their stake may think they're smart, but are very likely to lose everything.

Wang Chien-chuang is the president of The Journalist.