Straw Man!
How about this for a tactic—nominate your oppositions’ candidate who is despised by the core of his own party, thereby eliminating any viable competition, then cut him off at the knees in the general election.
Ha!
On second thought, I can’t see how something like this could be done by direction from above, but then end result is the same.
Unless we can start controlling who votes in primaries, we will never be able to select good candidates.