Before the true final stage, the campaign strategy would remain relatively discreet about who the real candidates were.
Generally speaking, a party would have one genuine presidential candidate, along with several people who were merely there to make up the numbers.
For example, this year, a very famous actor had announced that he would also run for president. He had even prepared his campaign team and begun working.
On the surface, everything this actor did seemed rather ridiculous. Would anyone really cast their vote for a movie actor? But there was no denying that he did have some possibility, especially since everything looked as though it were real.
Conner was Gladstone's friend. From the moment Gladstone took office, he had said that he wanted Conner to become the next president, and he had continued saying so ever since.
But the Progressive Party had selected three presidential candidates to participate in the election, while the Progressive Party camp also had around four self-declared presidential candidates.
Some people kept a very low profile, with almost no news about them to be seen. Others were extremely high-profile, like Conner, who was constantly appearing on television.
But was he really a genuine "presidential candidate"? Not necessarily.
Before the final stage arrived, anyone could be real, and anyone could be fake.
Suppose—this was merely a supposition—
Suppose Conner was fake. When the final stage arrived, he could voluntarily withdraw from the election and tell his supporters to support the true presidential candidate.
This had practically become a convention in Federal elections. The purpose was to confuse the competition and keep them from knowing who the real "trump card" was, preventing them from formulating careful, targeted plans too early.
Once the final stage arrived, the "sparring" between the presidential candidates would become extremely important. This was