The election is in the bag? 胜券在握

Reader question:

Please explain this sentence, particularly “in the bag”: Why campaign if the election is in the bag?

My comments:

Are we talking about the US election?

Cuz, this sounds like former President Donald Trump talking. Trump, for example, once said he doesn’t need any more votes. He’s got enough votes.

Here’s a direct quote (Trump to RNC Leadership: “I Don’t Need Any Votes”, MediaNews.com, April 23, 2024):

“I said, ‘Don’t get me votes. I don’t need any votes. We got all the votes we need. Just make sure on Election Day … there’s no cheating.”

There is no cheating, at least no cheating on a scale that’s sufficient to alter the result of the election, so we can see that Trump is bluffing.

Or, to put it mildly, Trump is being complacent again.

He thought he’d win, hands down, so why keep campaigning, going to rallies from town to town, city to city, state to state?

Why, that is, go through all these troubles when the election is in the bag, i.e. when an election victory is guaranteed.

That’s what “in the bag” means.

The bag, literally, refers to, say, the bag hunters have with them while they’re out hunting. When they catch something, a bird, for example, they put it in the bag.

What’s in the bag, you see, represents their catch or the fruit of their hunting labor.

From this comes the idiomatic meaning of “in the bag”. It means success is sealed and secured.

Popularly, many Americans believe this idiom comes from baseball, their favorite pastime, as Grammar-Monster.com explains:

“In the bag” originates from US baseball in the 1910s, specifically from the New York Giants. The Giants had a superstition that if the ball bag was carried off the field with The Giants in lead, then the game would be won.

This superstition was recorded in 1920 in “The Mansfield News” (Ohio newspaper).

“An old superstition was revived at the Polo grounds, New York, recently when Eddie Sicking was dispatched to the clubhouse with the ball bag at the start of the ninth possession of one run lead. This superstition originated during the run of twenty-six consecutive victories made by the Giants in 1916, the significance of it resting in a belief that if the bag is carried off the field at that stage of the game with the Giants in the lead the game is in the bag and cannot be lost.”

Got it?

Good. Oh, by the way, one more comment on Trump and the upcoming election.

As of now, many polls show that Trump is trailing Vice President Kamala Harris in swing states. And, as of now, there’s no sign that Trump is letting up in his campaign efforts. He’s doing interviews and rallies as often as he’s ever been doing. So, perhaps it’s not he that boasts: Why campaign if the election is in the bag?

Perhaps it’s some Democrats who get complacent.

Whichever the case, it is important to note that you should keep plugging and not take your foot off the pedal because what’s in the bag may not be secure after all.

Have you ever seen a hunter opens his bag only to see a captured bird break free and fly away?

Or, have you witnessed players come behind to win a match at the very end, after trailing for most of the match?

In other words, the game is not over until it’s over.

The lesson, in short, is to stay grounded and keep going. Keep playing the game. Do not relax before the proverbial final whistle is blown.

All right, here are a few recent media examples of “in the bag”:

1. Poor Rory McIlroy.

The Northern Irish star’s 10-year curse has continued, missing a decisive putt on the final hole at the US Open to deny himself the chance at a first major since 2014.

America’s Bryson DeChambeau finished six-under to win his second US Open title at Pinehurst on Monday morning AEST, bettering McIlroy by one shot.

McIlroy will be left to rue a sloppy end to his final round, which included three bogeys in the last four holes – but it was the botched two-foot, four-inches putt on hole 18 that will sting the most.

The 35-year-old was 496-for-496 putting inside three season this season before the horror miss, which opened the door for DeChambeau to win the title.

It is the latest in a long line of near misses for McIlroy, who has finished second at a major three times in the past three years, along with a top-three at the 2022 Open.

“A bitter disappointment for Rory,” English golf legend Dame Laura Davies said on Sky Sports.

“He had it in the bag, bogeyed three of the last four holes – missed a few putts – and that will be a bitter pill for him to swallow.”

- ‘Toughest day I’ve had’: McIlroy breaks silence after US Open heartbreak, FoxSports.com, June 18, 2024.

2. Jordan Pickford feared England could be on the wrong end of another VAR decision to dump them out of Euro 2024.

The Three Lions left it late in the last 16 tie against Slovakia as Jude Bellingham equalised in emphatic fashion in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Captain Harry Kane then headed England into the lead shortly into extra-time, where they held on for a 2-1 win to set up a quarter-final clash with Switzerland on Saturday, live on talkSPORT.

But it was Bellingham’s overhead kick that sparked the comeback, with the Real Madrid starlet appearing to scream, ‘Who else?,’ following his second goal of the tournament.

While players wildly celebrated his strike, Pickford has admitted he thought that England may fall victim to a third disallowed goal in Germany, which would have seen them subject to another humiliating last-16 exit at the Euros.

Phil Foden thought he had levelled the game up shortly into the second half against Slovakia from close range, but he was adjudged to be offside having gone too early when meeting Kieran Trippier’s low cross.

And it was Foden who was also ruled to be offside in the 0-0 draw with Slovenia in England’s final Group C match, where he latched onto Declan Rice’s pass before squaring for Bukayo Saka.

Commenting on Bellingham's stunning equaliser, Pickford said: “It was an unbelievable moment.

“And then you start thinking is VAR going to come into play or anything like that?

“Because after the equaliser with Phil, VAR came in and that kind of deflated [us].

“But like I said, that emotion, that buzz around the place – Slovakia must have thought they had it in the bag.

“But then we had to step on the gas in extra time, which we did, early doors, Harry getting that second goal.

“Then it was about our mentality to see the game out.”

- Jordan Pickford admits he feared VAR intervention following ‘Golden Boy’ Jude Bellingham’s emphatic England equaliser, TalkSports.com, July 1, 2024.

3. When Vice President Kamala Harris rallied thousands of supporters in West Allis last week, she hit a reset button on the presidential race, turning concerns from many voters about an inevitable Donald Trump landslide seemingly into ancient history.

The rally, held 105 days before the election, started a new chapter in the presidential race, leaving behind a disastrous debate, questions about President Joe Biden’s fitness for office and sentiment from many Republican National Convention attendees that a second Trump victory is in the bag.

Voters greeted Harris in West Allis for her first campaign event as the Democratic Party’s standard bearer with a sea of blue signs and shirts. Her remarks were met with near-constant applause, and they hinted at her strategy for the next three months: tough on former President Trump and forward-looking on a Harris administration’s policy goals.

It was a stark contrast from when Biden took the stage in Madison July 5 to double down on staying in the race after a rocky debate performance.

The crowd at the Biden event skewed older, and the energy level was lower. The president’s remarks were greeted by a few shouts, but not the raucous applause Harris received. And while his supporters still felt assured he could win Wisconsin — expressing consistent concerns about the future of abortion rights, foreign affairs and the economy – it didn’t feel like their enthusiasm would boil out of the room.

Harris’ rally laid bare the issue that had plagued Democrats in recent months: They had a messenger – not a message – problem.

“Kamala Harris is going to win Wisconsin,” Ben Wikler, chair of the Democratic Party in Wisconsin, told Wisconsin Watch in the moments after the rally. “You could see on the stage just now, her ability to lay out a message grounded in her record and her values that make crystal clear that she wants what most Wisconsinites want, which is freedom and opportunity.”

- Two Wisconsin presidential rallies a few weeks apart highlighted very different energy levels, MinnPost.com, July 30, 2024.

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About the author:

Zhang Xin is Trainer at chinadaily.com.cn. He has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.

（作者：张欣  编辑：丹妮）