What really counts in an election

Patrick over at The Paragraph Farmer, points out that the Cardinals, in electing the new Pope, were not driven by regional factionalism (which was the horse on which the MSM put its money), but focused instead on what was best for the church as a whole. Can you imagine an American election run on those terms? Or, even better, can you imagine our members of Congress looking to benefit the entire United States, rather than the troughs back home?