ZkinandBonez is right. From seeing GL’s original 12 movie idea, TPM is really the introduciton. Our characters (Obi-wan, Qui-gon), join up with Padme and then Anakin along the way. The politics aren’t really playing much of a role. They are there and Palpatine is the villain, at least in his guise and Darth Sidious. The next two movies bracket the Clone Wars. From the moment we meet Anakin in TPM, the trilogy is about him, Padme, and Obi-wan. Palpatine in his role as Senator and Chancellor, is Anakin’s mentor and friend (while all the time whispering things in his ear that lead to his downfall). Palpatine’s part of the story is like that of the Empire in the OT - it is necessary, but it is part of the tapestry of the story. But where the rebels in the OT are on the outside looking in, the trio in the PT is on the inside in the thick of things. That is part of the story of how the Republic fell. Anakin can’t be on the outside when he ends up at the heart of the new Empire. When Palpatine was so pivotol to the conclusion of the OT and Vader’s fall, Palpatine was always going to be pivotal to the PT. And being the Chancellor turned Emperor, he is at the heart of politics. He largely did away with the political structure when he abolished the Senate in ANH in favor of regional governors. The political landscape was always part of the story and lies at the heart of Anakin’s turn to Vader.