campaign vs take up the cudgels

campaign

verb
  • To take part in a campaign. 

  • Consistently ride in races for a racing season. 

noun
  • The period during which a blast furnace is continuously in operation. 

  • A series of operations undertaken to achieve a set goal. 

take up the cudgels

verb
  • To engage in a contest. 

  • to make a defence for someone or something; to intercede supportively. 

How often have the words campaign and take up the cudgels occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )