What is the barometer for a Politician to be re-elected?

They way I see it, as cynical as I am, there's only three reasons a politician is elected in any circumstance. Popularity, promises and putdowns. You can lie, cheat and steal, but as long as you promise to give someone something, you'll probably have a leg up on the person promising less. You can be an outright divisive, dirty SOB, but as long as you're willing to blame everything on an enemy, someone's always going to buy it. And you can do whatever the hell you want as long you're Joe Cool and have media and the masses fawning over you. You don't have to be a good person to be a politician. You just have to appeal to someone while convincing them that the the other party on the ticket is a worse choice. You're set for life if you sell your soul. If politics were a private business, I'm willing to bet that 95% of all politicians at every level would be fired for ethical violations, poor production, or just being too inept to fill the position.

Firstly, the elected representative out to have an agile body, so that he can move about swiftly at people's beck and call. He must be trusted by one and by all. He must have a sense of justice and fair play. He must be forever ready to help anyone who comes his way, without caring what he gets in return.

I think there should be term limits on politician's reign! THese guys have been on the hill for 30 plus years, they haven't a single clue about how the average american lives and what is needed to live and be a citizen and how the laws they make up and vote on effect the regular person. Not a single one of them could live in the "common world" after being on the hill for so long. Yet there they are..telling us how we will live and making rules/laws for us to follow, when most of the time, the rule/law doesn't even apply to them or their lives. I guarentee you those like Diane Finestein, Barbara Boxer and others of extremely long term political life on the hill, couldn't last 6 months out here in the "real" world. And actual JOB with specific rules to follow and low pay and high taxes and crappy health insurance...and no business expense report. I think most are "re-elected" simply cause people just don't vote. Or they just mark for D or R...simply cause that is what they are so they vote the party, not the person. I think they should have term limits...4 years... then they can be re-elected for 4 more but after that, they can't run for re=election until 4 years later...let them live the laws/rules they themselves made and see how they like it. IF they want to run again, fine, but they should at least know the results of what they are creating and implementing. These long term 30 plus politicians are just a joke these days. They make laws that don't effect or include themselves. But I guess it is the people's fault. People dont' pay any attention to politics...granted it is mainly cause it is so complicated and misleading and all, but still... at least find out how long someone has been making life so complicated and vote them out and try someone new!

In the US, many election districts are designed to favor one party's candidate over another. It's a common occurrence after the census is done to re-draw the districts and the party that's won the election for a state gets design districts to favor their candidates. Unless a new candidate from the same party comes in to challenge an existing candidate, the office holder usually keeps his position.