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That is a good point.
One can be a person with a reputation of some level in his locality, with connections on the side he made during his career. Most likely not even to one party, but several. Since he already known by a considerable percentage of the people, he will be a person of interest in those parties, someone to get hold onto. He could use one of the parties to get into politics and the party could use him to gain support and get votes. A marriage made in heaven.
More?