small town politics

One of the things that struck me the most was the lack of political parties in small towns and how during elections or even political disagreements, it's the people themselves and what they stand for that the people find important. This is in complete contrast to what we find in national or state politics. For some reason there is a transition in thinking somewhere between small town and even county political contests and just slightly larger contests where people vote solely on which political party the candidate identifies with. Being from a small town myself I never really thought about the politics that surrounded my life and especially the different parties, I couldn't name the party that my hometown mayor identifies with. This creates such an advantage for the people because the values a candidate supports are the true focus of the campaign not how best to pit one party against the other. I understand that the support system created by a political party can be an invaluable resource but the support given to a strong candidate can be even stronger because the people are giving support based on true knowledge not just a blind following. Why can't national politics follow this model even a bit closer?