Unfortunately, ideas do not count, money does. With money you can take polls and shape your beliefs to what voters want to hear. With money you can put 15-second ideas on television and play them repeatedly until they become great thoughts. With money voters never learn what a candidate really thinks, only what he thinks we think. Polls now drive elections because there is money to spend on polls.
Television spots drive elections because there is money to buy spots.
Ross Perot grabbed the attention of Americans and the press because we knew he had the billions to put himself forward, not because of the force of his ideas. The next time a politician tells you he has been out in the state or district or county listening to the voters, don't believe it. Candidates do campaign in person, but it is more for image and that alone won't win elections. Curtis Blackwood knocked on thousands of doors in his congressional race and lost to Bill Hefner in 1996. What he lacked as an outsider was money, which Hayes had in 1998.