I just got an idea. Would it be possible to make a presidential candidate out of one of us discussing here on message boards? Say there is this man/woman nicknamed "team president." Team president would be an experiment to gain power, no matter what. I don't care what the politics would be like, but "team president" would support those politics most likely to gain support in the population. Question is: could you be open about something like that, and still get votes?

Could you go out and say that on one hand, I swear to follow the opinion of the people, according to surveys, and on the other hand, tell large corporates that you will stray from this opinion whenever it proves beneficial for large corporate xyz. "Team president would need money after all."

Somehow, I really doubt that openness is gonna take you anywhere in politics. People want a candidate with a backbone, they vote for persons. And you don't wanna support a candidate saying he is considering it all to be a game. Question is if the candidates still do. I think they do, because I think it is more likely that you can raise a lot of needed money if you are rational.

Any rational candidate knows that they aren't likely to change people's opinions on e.g. abortion. You can have as many good arguments against abortion as you will, but a potential winner realizes that peoples position largely is dependent on something else, and won't change just because they hear your arguments.

This is pretty hard to accept for people deep into politics, as they have such strong perception that there is something right, and something wrong. And they believe, or need to believe that they can make a change. Some can make a change. But it is not the most likely scenario. So my guess is that politicians play it like a game.

So how should "team president" act in order to secure the president in 2012? How do they introduce a candidate, and stake out what opinions that candidate needs to voice? Is it even possible to become a viable candidate from the outside the way I am describing it?