Popular projects usually attract the most attention and political game playing. You ll have more room to manoeuvre and will have to spend only a fraction of your time playing politics. Whenever the subject of politics comes up we all tend to focus on backstabbing and brownnosing. Obviously you can t always choose your co-workers, but whenever possible you can volunteer for projects with people you trust. The more time you spend with those people the less time you ll have to worry about politicking.
Every organization has people who get stuff done without knifing anyone else in the back.
Keep your eyes open for these people and learn everything you can from them. Cultivating the leaders of your organization will create opportunities for you. But to do your job you ll have to also cultivate secretaries, janitors and all those people who govern how things really get done in organizations. No organization is politics-free, but there ARE organizations where politics plays a minor role. If things at your company seem truly irremediable, it might be time to start looking.