Politics Redux

I was thinking a bit about what I have read and watched recently concerning the election/candidates and almost universally, polls of some ilk were quoted liberally. Of course, candidates and campaigns use these polls (as well as their own, internal polls) to shape/grind/refine etc... their message.

I was reminded of Greg LeMond in the 1989 Tour de France. Going in to the final day of a racing, an individual time trial, he trailed Laurant Fignon of France by 50 seconds, by all accounts, a nearly insurmountable lead. Le Mond instructed his team to not provide him with split-time updates throughout the time trial. The result, he won by 8 seconds. By concentrating on only his performance and not that f his competition, he was able to produce exceptional results.

Would that philosophy translate to a political campaign? I am not advocating the candidate insulates himself from the public, but rather that he resist the urge to shape his message based on polls. No refinement/focus group/pollster *tweaking* of the message, just the unvarnished beliefs and convictions of an honest man (or woman) While maybe not the best strategy for a front runner, why not use this if you are a second tier candidate trying to make some waves?

Maybe this has been done or is being done currently, not sure.