A country may have more than one official capital at any given point in time. It may be separate from the actual seat of government or move about seasonally. Different branches of government may be centered in different cities.
Political capital also refers to the goodwill that a government or politician has stored. By building up political capital by pursuing popular policies, a politician can then support unpopular policies yet have enough popular support to remain in office. Political capital refers to goodwill amongst the population at large; but it can also refer to goodwill with other lawmakers or officials. For example, if the President of the United States leans on Congress very hard to pass a proposal that it might not have passed without the President's attention, he is said to have spent some political capital.
