run for the exercise

A pun on two senses of run: to run for election and to travel quickly on foot.

run for the exercise (third-person singular simple present runs for the exercise, present participle running for the exercise, simple past ran for the exercise, past participle run for the exercise)

1. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see run,‎ exercise.
2. (simile, US, colloquial, politics) To run for political office with little chance of success.
   • 1959, Candidates 1960 "xxx", Nelson. A Rockefeller, page 53

     [I]f Rockefeller wanted to run for the exercise, [Democrats] reasoned, let him kill himself off and clear the way for a more regular Republican in the next election.

   • 1991, The Hotline, volume 4, numbers 127-148, page 3:

     BENTSEN: SAYS HE WON'T RUN "FOR THE EXERCISE"
     "Asked about the 1992 presidential race, Bentsen said he would not run as a sacrificial lamb so that the [Dems] would have a credible candidate and avoid a humiliating defeat"

• run like a dry creek