It will show in plain view how weak the left really is.
What many people do not understand is that silence is often worth more than gold. If one keeps one's mouth shut, people may think he is a fool, but if one opens it - they know.
The Russian played the silence game very well. Their military was rather weak and lacking the capacity to project force globally - as it turned out throughout the 1980s and 1990s. But they kept the lid of secrecy very tight and let the Yanks wonder what their real strength is. And worked very well indeed in keeping the Yanks out.
Putting the left's strength to a test in an election is equivalent to Afghanistan and perestroika - it puts weakness in a plain view. Not a good thing for a shrewd revolutionary.
As to the view that the presidential election is a "circus" - any institution that controls $1,900 bn (or 19% of this country's GDP) is NOT a circus. In fact, it is a very, very serious institution and should be treated as such. Only pie-in-the-sky fools who do not understand the value and significance of material resources would think otherwise.
Wojtek