Unless there is a groundswell of support for or resentment against a candidate, the one with the most money puts up the most scurrilous adds and he/she wins.
If a candidate is an incumbent, they have a further edge as they have played "Godfather" to a lot voters, helping them out with government problems they could just as well have resolved themselves, but for which the "Godfather" gets credit when they mindlessly seek his assistance, instead of using the brains God wasted on them.
We live in a plutocratic oligarchy - mainly because we keep re-electing the same serial political criminals to office.
We abandoned the form of government the Founding Fathers bequeathed to us when we ceased being a “Republic of Virtue” that feared and respected the God who made us great.