This is bull!@#$. Political power is not measured by number of vassals or any other number, really. It's measured by your ability to make other people do what you want them to do, and since you can do that by force or by manipulation or by a dozen other means, it is intrinsically very hard to measure.
I don't think it's bull!@#$. In fact, it's easier to measure than fame, honour, prestige, loyalty, morale, etc. etc. I'm sure political power means many things to many people, but if it's measured by your ability to make other people do what you want them to do, then certainly getting people to follow you, swear loyalty to you, vote for you, and appoint you to powerful offices, are all
evidence of political power. No metric is perfect, maybe there are other IG hallmarks of power. If so, they should be factored in too.
