I think a much more "American" style of political competition would be to have elected politicians compete at various levels to determine who gets to move on to the next higher position. They already seem to do this informally in many cases by progressing through a career as a politician so why not formalize it? That way instead of your advancement being determined by your party officials or your fundraising it could be based on how well you governed at each level of office with the winner determined by measurable improvements they made.