Political Campaign Strategy

I noticed today, while listening to talk radio on the way to work, that I place almost as much importance on how a political campaign is run as I do on the substance of the candidate's platform. I admire a clever campaign strategy and I find a campaign misstep to be unforgivable. I think the reason that I place so much importance on strategy is that I want a candidate to be smarter than I am, and I am pretty damn smart. If a candidate makes an amateurish mistake, particularly one that I think I would not have made, I can't get past it. It seems indicative of the types of mistakes the candidate will make in office. Even if I agree fully with a candidate's platform, if the candidate can't support it with an analytical mind and complex strategic planning, I don't have faith that the candidate will be successful in office.