As we saw recently with USC's win at Notre Dame, the last few seconds on the clock really can make all the difference.

The same is true in Politics.

In the past few days, I've grown concerned over Republicans' temptation to dance in the endzone before the game is won.

Despite their best intentions, it's happening in Hoffman's race against Corzine for Governor of New Jersey. And I regret that it's happening here in the race for the open Congressional seat in California's Bay Area.

I commend the enthusiasm for a potential win over former Lt. Governor John Garamendi - a man who's never met a Tax increase he doesn't like.  I believe we CAN achieve victory.  And I KNOW it's exciting.  But, friends, there is a reason that Coaches hold their clipboards over their mouths when talking to the booth upstairs.  We MUST resist the temptation to get so giddy that we begin telegraphing our every move to our political enemies - before the first polling place even opens on Tuesday!

I am only one person. I may not even be the end-all, be-all expert (I only play one on TV!). But Sun Tszu's "Art of War" tells me that we should plan out our attack "quietly" in order to catch our opponents off-guard. Otherwise, we give the opponent the luxury of time - time to respond with an equal and opposite reaction, go gather more supplies (i.e., Busloads of Union supporters), thus reducing our chances of winning in these final 72 hours.

I know a thing or two about this.

In the victorious landslide campaign for No on 1A - the defeat of the $16 Billion, largest Tax increase in California state history - we were continuously underestimated by all of the forces against us (and trust me, there were many). Governor Schwarzenegger's office, the California Chamber of Commerce, and yes, that fickle thing called the Field Poll.  The opponents didn't believe there was any "real", organized effort to oppose the Ballot Measure. We were a rag-tag team of Taxfighters, to be sure. But we went quietly about our work, day in and day out, laying the groundwork for victory, increasing support on the ground, yet not telegraphing to the opponent that our pass was about to be caught in the endzone in the final seconds of the game.

The result? We surprised everyone by earningd a Landslide victory, something like 65 percent of the vote. Even in the liberal bastion of L.A., won by 70 percent of the vote. That would not have happened if our opponents knew of our game plan in the days and weeks leading up to Election Day.

So, this weekend... by all means, Get Out the Vote, help these candidates cross the finish line, but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Otherwise, I fear we'll open Wednesday morning's paper, and see that we've once again been penalized for dancing in the endzone.