Apart from advertising, Raila has been involved in various aspects of the game of football. His brother Oburu Odinga has recounted that even at an early age; Raila loved football with a passion. Throughout his political career he has regularly attended major continental matches involving Harambee Stars. His entry into the stadium is guaranteed to elicit the wildest cheers from the gathered crowds. The only other politician who grasped the emotive power of sports events and sought to bond with the multitudes of fans at stadia was retired President Moi. But Raila's contribution extends beyond mere watching; he has also been involved in fundraising activities for self-sustaining professional club teams like Gor Mahia which along with AFC Leopards, has the largest following in the country and still attracts bigger crowds to its matches than any of the institutional clubs. 

During political rallies, Raila has been known to give commentaries of football featuring political sides with a pronounced focus on the ‘State House Finals'. Traditionally, one player slips the ball to him and he scores a goal that brings the listening crowd to a thundering triumphant roar. 

But what really underlines Raila's passion for the game is the fact that he actually plays the game. During a football tournament in Busia a few years back, Raila turned out in Real Madrid kit complete with his name emblazoned on the back. In August this year, he also graced a football match in which he scored. 

This association with football has led to an organization being born to support his run at the presidency. The Soccer Veterans for Raila (Sovera) were received at Orange House and included Kenyan soccer legends like famed goalkeeper Mahmoud Abbas, Dan Shikanda, Peter Dawo- the legendary header of the ball, Henry Motego- he of the longest throw-ins, Bobby Ogolla- the ‘six-million-dollar-man, Aggrey Evayo, Paul Onyiera amongst others. During the ‘Thunder' rally at Uhuru Park recently, Dan Shikanda (a doctor who has since lost the ODM nominations for the Makadara seat and has since moved to the NARC party that still supports the ODM candidate) entered the grounds kicking a football to loud cheers. 

Raila's rivals have had no such keen interest in the world's most watched sport. Kalonzo Musyoka came within passive association with football with a kit donation to AFC Leopards through the Kalonzo Musyoka Foundation whose logo was then loudly announced on the donated t -shirts. President Kibaki on his part recently attended a cash reward event for athletes in Eldoret but that seems as far as he is prepared to go. The media, as anyone who has been in Kenya longer than a week will know, have for the longest time portrayed the president in cartoons as an avid golfer. But this wins him little popular acclaim in a country where ‘the holy walk' is still seen by many as an elitist game; one however that seems increasingly popular with members of the political class. A report by the People newspaper in 2006 showed that half the cabinet including ministers Martha Karua, Njeru Ndwiga, Amos Kimunya and Mukhisa Kituyi enjoyed regular golf outings. 

The irony of this unfriendly attitude towards sport is that Kenya has been successful at many global sports events and that sport therefore represents an opportunity for the rallying together of the Kenyan people. A recent example of this attitude by the wider public was the ‘Tusker Night of Champions' at Nyayo Stadium in the wake of the World Athletics Championships. Even coming during a period when Kenyan athletes were the toast of the world, the event was given a wide berth by the people of Nairobi, coming as it did just hours before the same venue was packed for the PNU campaign launch.

On the religious front, the country is awash with crusades and other similar religious functions that are usually well attended. Parliamentary aspirants all over the country are known to be determined in their attendance of church functions and their conduct of fund raising activities for religious causes, especially right before elections are called. With the growth of the prominence of Kenyan Islam and the Pentecostal churches, these particular constituencies have become more important in the calculations of the major presidential candidates. While tribe may win you the backing of one district, getting the support of a religious leader with a large following opens doors across the country and makes millions more receptive to your message.

Again, while others rebuffed this approach to national politics, the Lang'ata MP was not so squeamish. Instead he was quick to woo Muslim leaders who were disillusioned with the government, even as the political parties allied with the Government ignored their overtures. Later after the revelation that Raila had met the Muslims and sealed some form of a deal became public, a panic-stricken Government realised its folly and started playing catch-up fully aware it seems of the value of this constituency. In a testament to just how central to our politics, and just how passion-inducing religion can be, Raila's Memorandum of Understanding with the NAMLEF has remained one of the hottest and most prominent political topics of the campaign period.

And it is not just this constituency that the ODM has been courting. When American televangelist TD Jakes visited the country in October 2005, Raila Odinga was among the political leaders who attended the crusade at Uhuru Park. In addition local Christian church leaders like Pastor Brawan of Nakuru and Bishop Margaret Wanjiru of Jesus Is Alive Ministries have both been prominent in the rallies of Raila and have been nominated to vie for parliamentary seats on the party's ticket. During the Thunder Rally, Pastor Brawan had a band that entertained the gathered crowd contrasting with the P-Unit and DNA team that had been assembled to play at the Nyayo Stadium rally of President Kibaki a week earlier. This association with religious groups extends beyond political association. The main parties have made a point of opening religious meetings with prayers. President Kibaki's campaign rally at Nyayo Stadium for example, featured Islamic, Hindu, Christian and traditional religious prayers. 

An interesting aside, is the fact of the Presidential Candidates' names. Mwai Kibaki has not used his Christian names prominently, so much so that if one was to call the Roman Catholic Kibaki using the names Emilio Stanley, few people would know who was being spoken of. The ODM candidate has on his part had fend off claims that he is not Christian for among other reason his lack of a Christian Western name. Kalonzo Musyoka, the ODM-K candidate has made more pronounced use of his Christianity, using both his name Stephen more prominently and also confessing to being a born again Christian. His rally at Uhuru Park was reportedly preceded by a church service and he has sought to inject a quasi-religious bent to his campaign, speaking prophetically. He has promised miracles and made no small point of his eschewal of corruption. The ODM-K candidate's stance is not new either; he has previously chaired the Prayer Group of the national Assembly and was involved in the first National Prayer Breakfast. 

Finally, on the political front, whereas some pundits have tried to sanitize the election platform and inject some issue-based debate, the truth of the matter is that Kenyan crowds get bored when in attending rallies they are met with politicians talk about policy. Such pronouncements are hardly memorable and on the whole less likely to endear a politician to the public than a healthy joke or a war-cry. The general public is disinterested in strategy on the growth of economy, or the minutiae of wealth creation. Politics is not about making sense, it is about perception. I once attended a rally presided over by Mukhisa Kituyi in which he brought the crowd to a thunderous roar when he mentioned that there was no need to fear the then President Moi as he was just a human being who passed wind like the rest of us. The crowd was ecstatic! A few people I spoke with were quick to point out that the statement showed Kituyi to be a bold leader who could tell it like it was. 

Whatever more genteel people may say about insults at political rallies, they form the most enduring mementos among those attending. When Kibaki uses the ‘pumbavu' word, it scores him more points than when he is all polite and reading a written speech. In fact, most people who attend political rallies are already converted. There is no need to waste time persuading them to vote for a candidate of party. What they are attending for is association and ‘bar talk', the kind of free-flowing alcohol lubricated gab issued when we are at our least defensive or self-conscious. Many more go to political rallies not even for bonding, but for entertainment and diversion. This is why some politicians are driven to such antics as singing at rallies. This is not just an effective crowd pleaser, but also a most memorable experience that quickly thrusts a politician ahead in the public's estimation. Who can forget when Mukhisa Kituyi was belting his tunes on President Moi's mismanagement of the economy? The song ‘Kweli ndugu sikilizeni niwa-ambie' was not only humorous but it also transmitted a message during the NARC campaigns one that was subsequently reinforced by continued renditions of the song, long after the campaign team left a town. This is also the case with Raila Odinga's famous ‘Vitendawili' (riddles) and ‘Hadithi' (fables). 

It is no wonder then that Raila's employ of these, the language of the common people, the masses, pushes him ahead of the pack, endearing him to the greater number and persuading them that he would make for the best president.