After reading this post about the elections in ancient Rome this question popped into my head.The assembly that was in charge of electing magistrates, the Comitia Centuriata, gave a huge amount of weight to the vote of wealthy people. (If I made a wrong conclusion about the Roman how elections work please call me out on it!)
So, if the consuls were elected by the will of the wealthy how did more populist-like politicians like Caesar, Marius, the Gracchi, etc. get elected? Some (this might be an understatement )prominent senators and nobles opposed him, didn't they? Were there enough wealthy people that did like them or did they just bribe a lot of wealthy men?
In Caesar's case, he was elected due to the joining of the First Triumvirate of himself, Pompey and Crassus. All joined for their own personal reason (Pompey wanted ratification of his eastern settlements and I can't quite remember the larger reason why Crassus joined but he was loaded as hell so I'm sure gathering more money and dignitas would have been on the agenda).
Pompey was able to bully the people in power with his own army and Crassus could bribe the rest. Following with Ceasar's rise to proconsul he was able to pass necessary legislation to help the other parties involved.
You're right in stating that nobles opposed him, notably Cicero and Cato the Elder. Cato [according to Plutarch] killed himself after learning that Caesar was winning the civil war reasoning that he did not want to live in a world with Caesar as it's leader. Cicero, the great orator of his time, disliked Caesar for his populist like views and his desire to expand the Empire's wealth. Cicero also hated Caesar for backing Catiline after Catiline had plotted Cicero's death.