[1][2] Andrew Gelman argues that the "local" refers to the fact that politicians "need local skills to win the primary election that gets them into their safe seat, and they need backroom political skills in the state legislature to keep their safe seats every 10 years."
"[3] Chris Matthews, former chief of staff to Tip O'Neill, wrote about the strategy adopted in the 1982 Congressional elections.
O'Neill's seat was challenged by Massachusetts lawyer Frank L. McNamara, Jr., who had financed most of his campaign with money from oil interests in Oklahoma and Texas.
O'Neill played up the connections in the media by passing out literature highlighting McNamara's fundraising in Texas.
Matthews wrote that "by hitting his rival where he lived, O'Neill translated a wholesale debate over national economic policy to the local, retail level.