It isn't a perfect analogy, Maven isn't constantly having to raise money or make tough votes on legislation, but I've always thought of Maven as a politician with an established positive base and an established negative base. Like any politician, there is an established base of people who are predisposed to "vote" for you, there is an established base of people who are predisposed to "vote" against you, and then there are the valuable undecideds. This is the real audience, you don't fight for your base, you try to convince the undecideds to vote for you.

If you were trying to campaign for Maven, you have three options:

1. Convince the Opposition - It doesn't work. If you are deadset against Maven in 2010, you are probably not going to move toward Maven in the coming months unless something dramatic happens. Ok, that's not true, I've seen this work, but you can't make a direct attack on the opposition, you have to cede some ground to gain some ground (but that is a different blog post).
2. Play to Your Own Base - Believe it or not, this is important. If you lose your base, you've lost your support. Maven's in the #1 spot for build tools at the moment, but in technology things can change quickly. Maven's base is under an almost constant assault from people peddling other options. Your base has to feel supported.
3. Win Over the Undecideds - This is where it gets interesting. Since Maven is constantly under attack (deserved or undeserved) we're constantly seeing people Tweet or comment about having to make a decision about Maven. The competition tends to attack Maven's deficiencies, and it is easy to get baited into a fight about the deficiencies of alternative tools.