I was also wondering everyone's opinion on "politicking" to try to obtain a nomination?
Based on my experience, it is not needed, is not effective and could be counterproductive.
First, many districts and states aren't particularly competitive. In those locations, there could be fewer qualified candidates than nom slots. So not an issue.
For competitive districts/states, most (if not all) MOCs use a citizens' committee to make the decisions. Some review only paper. Some also conduct interviews. The committee (and I've served on one) is non-partisan. I had no idea who the candidates were or who their parents were (let alone their parents' political affiliations), nor did I want to know.
The most meritorious, in the view of the committee, will receive noms. The MOC rarely injects him/herself into the process other than as a rubber stamp of the committee. Of course, "most meritorious" lies in the eye of the beholder. Just as with USNA Admissions decisions, the decision as to who gets the noms is subjective. If there are interviews, a "close call" could be swayed with a good interview.
I will say that, in the time I've been doing this, I've never felt that the process was anything other than fair -- and that is regardless of the political affiliation of the MOC or the individual MOC him/herself. As I say in my Noms sticky (go to the Noms forum), I'm not naive enough to believe that if you have a personal, long-standing friendship with the MOC, it won't help. But that's different from "politicking." In our area, 600+ candidates apply for 10 slots. You can imagine the chaos if 600 sets of parents started calling, emailing or otherwise pestering their MOC's office . . . not good.
What 64BGO means when he says to aggressively pursue noms is (I think
-- not to put words in his mouth): (1) apply for every nom for which you're eligible, including the VP; (2) put together the best package you can for each one -- i.e., take time with your essays, proofread your materials, etc.; (3) prepare for your interview and make every effort to do well; (4) if permitted by the MOC, supplement your file with additional accomplishments.
In the past, some candidates, especially those with Pres noms or with LOAs (and w/o Pres nom), would go through the motions, figuring they were golden with a Pres nom alone or that, with an LOA in hand, USNA would "find" a nom for them. In recent years, such an approach is foolhardy. A Pres nom may be enough . . . it may not be. And LOA candidates who don't secure noms typically are turned down.
Thus, every candidate should make every effort WITHIN the process to secure a nom. That's all.