It may have helped get his foot in the door, but it doesn't explain getting 68% of the vote in his reelection bid and wiping out Bill Clinton's personal friend Gary Mauro in the 1998 gubernatorial election in the second most populous state in the US. It was this very large margin a victory which made him a contender for the 2000 presidential race.
The larger point is this: In politics, it's not what you know, it's who you know. Political dynasties are nothing knew -- just in the 20th Century, we've had the Tafts, the Kennedys, the Roosevelts, the Bush family, and probably others I'm forgetting. Nor is it unusual for someone to be elected president who hasn't held public office for long: Dubya had six years; Reagan had eight; Eisenhower had never been elected to public office in his life. So I don't think we're going to be able to take Hillary! down on the grounds of lack of experience.