Before I start, I really love reading you're dissections of these episodes. It's a shame they're getting buried under all the other "ALICIA AND JOHN IS SO CUTE" comments, but I digress.
I like that someone else is able to understand the intention of these episodes. The same thing happened halfway through season five: lots of uneventful episodes which built up towards the finale. And although I don't agree that this was as good as you seem to think it is (largely because of Gary Cole's poor performance and Kalinda & Cary's awkward appearances), I still like the setup that it's going for.
I especially loved the conversation between Alicia and Frank right at the end, before their speeches. That conversation set in stone for me that Alicia would win the election; because she doesn't seem to want to. She doesn't believe in herself anymore (which, incidentally, I see as a setup for Johnny & Alicia, since he's been the one supporting Alicia the most throughout the campaign), and if she wins, she'll feel very conflicted. I am interested to see where that leads. On the contrary, I wouldn't want her to win the election because I think that would seem too easy. All of Peter's competitors lost without much of a challenge, and I fear the same is happening to Alicia.
I definitely agree on how Kalinda has been sidelined, and how I'd like to see more of the old Kalinda-action we saw in S2/3, but I don't see much opportunity for that anymore and I see that as being the fault of Bishop. Kalinda used to be a badass, pseudo-Catwoman type character who was independent and did whatever she wanted. She was raw. Now, with Bishop being here, she's become timid and submissive, especially to him. The only time she has been aggressive as of late was when she was helping Bishop's son.
I think this is one of the better cases, personally. I like how they touched on somewhat of a relevant issue, and I like how they delved into a bit of the psychological aspect and the client's reactions to each statement as well. I hadn't seen much of that previously and now the writers are getting more intimate with each minor client which I really like.
I can't wait for next week's episode!