As someone who has worked in Washington for 16 years, it’s hard for me to imagine this place in the way that the presidential candidates envision it.

Both Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama talk about a bipartisan or even “post-partisan” atmosphere if they win the White House.

We’ll see. I arrived in Washington just as the “permanent campaign” became a staple of capital culture. President Clinton’s “War Room” wasn’t disbanded after he won the 1992 election. It swung into action whenever he tussled with Congress.

President Bush and his top political aide, Karl Rove, brought their “us against them” attitude from the campaign trail to the White House, making many interactions with Capitol Hill a showdown rather than a negotiation.

But this kind of fighting is turning off voters, according to Greg Casey, president and CEO of the Business Industry Political Action Committee. His organization helps companies become more involved in politics—and policy—by communicating with their workers.

Voter disgust with partisan gridlock has created an opening for businesses, according to Casey. In the cover package of Workforce Management’s September 8 edition, he explains that people have lost faith in political parties and are turning to their employers for guidance when it comes to issues and elections.

Voters themselves are moving to the middle of the political spectrum, Casey says. In that post-partisan geography, business involvement can make a difference.

One way to avoid alienating employees is to not overtly take sides in campaigns. Yes, business interests have typically supported Republicans. But that’s not necessarily going to be the case in an evolving political climate where the middle holds sway.

For instance, Democrats took over the House and Senate in 2006 thanks to the success of candidates who ran to the right of the party’s Capitol Hill leadership. Many of those folks won corporate backing.

For Casey, the important thing is to elect members of Congress who will keep taxes low on profit and capital gains, push for health care and energy reform and advocate trade liberalization. As long as they back policies supporting “capital formation,” party labels don’t matter.

“The key is to refocus government affairs on policy outcomes and not just access to policymakers,” Casey says. “An election happens every two years. Policy is an ongoing operation.”

Both elections and policymaking will occur in the middle, according to Casey.

“Neither political party is currently positioned to be the majority party given the nature of their caucuses right now,” he says. “We in the business community have an opportunity to shape the public discourse on the No. 1 issue of the day, which is prosperity,” and formulate an agenda that appeals to the “new emerging middle.”

The election will be decided by independents who disdain partisanship and want politicians to get things done in Washington. Perhaps corporate interests will influence that important voting bloc.