murf2222, in this day and age anyone who becomes President of the United States owes somebody something. Some people may start off their political careers as state assemblyman or state senators with altruistic values but I am sure that by the time they reach national levels they end up in the pockets of special interest groups.
The first person that comes to my mind as being independent of special interest groups and yet rising to a national political level was Gen. Colin Powell when he served as Secretary of State.
At one time when I was considering a run at the local school district I approached the local newpapers about doing a story on me and the first thing they asked me was how much money was I going to spend on advertisements 🙂
Also, when I was looking for endorsements I was told that the trustees on the (conservative) school board – a USD in Orange County – needed to first know where I stood on issues of abortion, religion, etc.
So anyone who rises up the political ladder in this country is going to owe someone something – at the very least the party that helped them win. And everything owed trickles down from there.
