Towing the line even has a delightful play on words, where you are towing around the lines out of whatever leaders mouth. Towing the line, like you are helping

Towing the line even has a delightful play on words, where you are towing around the lines out of whatever leaders mouth. Towing the line, like you are helping to pull along the message. And towing the line like you are carrying around the lines of the message. It's too good to give up for some oddly abstracted analogy about running a race.