Politics, in Wallace's estimation, are all about negotiation. How do you keep this person on your side while still maintaining your edge. How do you balance your status as the youngest starter on the team without getting beat on. How do you negotiate being friends with a girl who can't stay out of trouble, who won't stay out of the line of revenge and ruthlessness and regret and not get tarnished.

Politics mean that sometimes you fall, sometimes you're tarred with a nasty brush of association. You can get points back here, there and everywhere, but in the end, you are you're running mate.

He knows these things when he chooses Veronica. Knows the the trade off of her ferocity will ultimately outweigh the millstone of outcastness that she brings, that she wears like a badge of pride and that he'd still like to tuck under his vest, reveal like Wyatt Earp.