STALKINGHORSE

Stalking horse

A stalking horse is a figure that tests a concept with someone or mounts a challenge against someone on behalf of an anonymous third party. If the idea proves viable or popular, the anonymous figure can then declare its interest and advance the concept with little risk of failure. If the concept fails, the anonymous party will not be tainted by association with the failed concept and can either drop the idea completely or bide its time and wait until a better moment for launching an attack.

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stalking horse

Noun

  1. A horse used as cover by a hunter stalking game
  2. A candidate put forward instead of any of several potentially successful candidates in order to initiate a leadership debate, gauge feelings, divide opposition etc.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: stalking horse
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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