Well, one way to do it is to ride your powerful father's and grandfather's reputation to the Navy Academy, barely graduate, and then become a POW, so that you can spend the rest of your career running as a war hero. Gee, that question was easy.

A little more seriously: a great intellect is hardly a prerequisite for political success. George W. Bush can hardly string two sentences together without a grammar mistake, yet he rose to the nation's highest office. Reagan got there on the strength of Hollywood glamor and cowboy posturing.

Great intellect can actually be a drawback for a candidate, since it creates a gulf between him and those he has to convince to vote for him, making him seem like an elitist. If a smart candidate can speak "stupid" fluently, as a second language, he can bridge that gulf, but it sure is easier to just speak it natively, the way Bush does.