Political ground - when people have trusted a politician as their leader it is not easy to take them on. Raila for example, has had coast ground for long time now after inheriting it from Moi. Ruto has tried many configurations to take coast ground - but it been very difficult. Ruto is nearly succeeding in Western.
When we were analyzing Raila v Ruto in RV btw 2008 -2010 - we were talking ground game.
Ruto has warmed himself to GEMA ground - and Raila is hated there. That simple.
How do you win ground - you have to identify the community interest - for example Raila has identified coast and RV had huge bone to pick with Kikuyu nations - and he played that - because Luos also have huge bone. Kalenjin of course realized Raila also had huge axe to pick with them - when he started going for MAU as a priority. Therefore Kalenjin are convinced that Raila means bad for them. The coast have huge grievances and will find ODM their safe home.
Western are very tired with Raila, tired with Raila taking them for granted and they are tired playing second fiddle. it's different ball game.
GROUND game is where election are won or lost. Uhuru has lost GEMA ground - he needs to win it back.
You can bribe politician but you cannot bribe the ground. You can threaten the politician you cannot threaten the ground. What works for grounds is development, community interest and of course their leader's direction help soften the ground.
Na hii "ground" ni mnyama gani hio? Ni mithili ya legacy?