What's for there to elaborate on?

A large part of politics in the public face is to put forward what people want to see, or what you think the group you're advertising to wants to see. Then going about a way of delicately dancing around an issue with a non-answer. For an election stand-point, laying all your cards out on the table would allow for your competition - even from your own party - to probably re-adjust course if they find anything "too popular". And in the general election sense the true intention from everyone is going to be hidden behind a constant barrage of the most "out there" messages to attract as much a following within the party to elect you into a primary; at which point you re-adjust rhetoric in the hopes of reaching across the aisle and whatever demographic group to beat out the other. What you say may not be the "truth", but is more so what people want, or what you or your campaign management think they want to hear.

In office: of course not, we all operate on some level of selfish desire no matter the noble goal. "Pork Belly" is a widely invoked term for at least any project brought home from Washington that puts a load of money into either the local politician's hands, or his friends, and then puts a name on a building to memorialize him for effectively nothing. Actions and words in office can be conducted in the same way as in election, but re-oriented to hide what's really going on and appease the voter base as Washington's backroom deals are cut.