Political power is gained with care, cunning...and political power. Good politicians invest now to get more power later.
Alliances and coalitions
When people band together into coalitions they become more powerful. 'Together we stand, divided we fall', as they say. The trick with coalitions is to build a core idea around which people cluster. This may be negative, for example stopping a hated change, or may be positive, such as pushing through a change.
Favors and back-scratching
Political power often is build on a system of exchange, where people in a power relationship support one another as needed and perhaps in different ways (possibly even by breaking the rules).
Bribery, blackmail and corruption
Politics can indeed have a shadow side to it, and such negative means may be gained to garner power. A surprising number of people have skeletons and more in their closet. Digging out the dirt is a popular political ploy. What you do with it next depends on your style. A political animal will hide the information. A politically naive person will squander the power it could give, either by not talking about it or by turning it into office gossip.
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