What if the president were non-partisan?

I encountered my first non-partisan election this last time around (for mayor of Honolulu–a race I’m very ignorant about since I just moved here), and it made me wonder: what if the higher echelons of government not only could be non-partisan, but were required to be?

I’m not positive of the history on this issue, although glancing over the Wiki entries about the first US parties (John Adams’ Federalists and Thomas Jefferson’s Democratic-Republicans) it seems the idea of a leader’s partisanship has been ingrained longer than the Constitution.

How would a president who ran without the benefit or detriment of party label fare in office? Would it just be used to sneak someone in under people’s radar, with little to no accountability, even to a party machine? Would s/he have to fight the Congress, or would s/he be able to function more credibly as a uniter? In short, what if?

First off they wouldn’t get the huge publicity boost of the convention, which in modern times has always been the high point of every major presidential campaign. And a substantial amount of the money that goes into the presidential campaigns is raised through the parties. The biggest disadvantage, though, simply comes from lacking a large base who will automatically vote the party line regardless of who the candidate is.

The last two elections have seen a lot of talk along the lines of “I can’t stand either major party candidate”, yet despite that nonpartisan candidates faired poorly. I personally would be perfectly willing to look at a third party candidate with a decent shot at winning, but right now I just can’t think of a way for that to happen.