The Opposition Research Training Blog

Is this How Gingrich Would Govern as President?

Sitting down for an interview with Matt Bai, chief political correspondent for New York Times Magazine, Gingrich shed some light on what happened when his senior staff quit early in the campaign.

Gingrich says now, in what may be a characteristic bit of revisionist history, that it was clear early on that he needed to break free of his highly paid and conventional consultants, and that he and his wife, Callista, actually took their much-maligned Greek vacation last June — a pleasure trip in the middle of what was supposed to be his ramp-up as a candidate — in order to provoke a confrontation with the campaign’s leadership. (Gingrich later added that he really needed to see the Greek fiscal crisis up close.) If so, it worked, because the entire senior team quit en masse when he got back.

His current staff must be wondering what crazy scenario he will cook up to get rid of them.

Super PAC Supporting Romney Begin Attacks on Gingrich in Iowa

While Democrats sit on the sidelines with Cheshire Cat grins, Restore Our Future, a political action committee formed by former Romney advisers, will begin running ads attacking Newt Gingrich in Iowa. Opposition research on Gingrich is like picking low hanging fruit. There is so much Its hard to know what to use. Restore Our Future throws a lot into the first ad including ethics violations, Freddie Mac consulting fees, “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants, and siding with Obama on the individual healthcare insurance mandate. Amazingly there’s enough for several more ads.

Are Campaigns Spying On Each Other?

I hope not. But I wouldn’t be surprised if they were. I recently had lunch with two former federal agents who now offer technical surveillance countermeasure services to the private sector. We talked about what they view as the perfect storm in their business, a society that has seen a steady decline in ethical behavior, and the relative ease at which sophisticated eavesdropping equipment can be obtained today.

Chances are slim a campaign, as a policy, would overtly spy on an opponent. What I think is much more likely are campaign staff or volunteers spying, without the candidate’s knowledge, to gain status within the campaign as someone with a shrewd ability to predict the opponent's behavior. People are always looking for shortcuts to get ahead. And in a campaign, coming forward with with consistently valuable information from a friend of a friend source will get you noticed.

Political spying doesn’t have to be all super-secret bugs and wiretaps. It can be as simple and low tech as getting the access codes for an opponent’s conference calls. Or planting a voice activated digital recorder at the opponent's debate podium to hear conversation between the opponent and campaign manager during breaks. If someone wanted to volunteer with a campaign to place listening devices, obtaining the equipment is frighteningly easy. A simple Google search using the search string site:eBay.com "hidden camera" returns thousands of links. Many of these devices are made in China, fairly good quality, and relatively inexpensive. They often come with free shipping and arrive within weeks.

Not really up for waiting. Try Staples, I took this picture of pens with a hidden video camera that also record audio at my local Staples store selling for $79.99.

 

Lack of Opposition Research Can Tank Your Campaign

Bad or no opposition research can have a serious impact on a campaign. There can be devastating consequences from using information that is not properly vetted. In their battle against incumbents, Somerset County NJ Democrats sent out mailers highlighting the poor attendance records of republicans. Assemblyman Peter Biondi (R-Somerset) was singled out as having the worst record.

Highlighting Biondi’s record was where the whole thing came crashing down for democrats. Biondi had been battling a form of cancer known as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. In an instance what seemed like a fairly reasonable point to make turned into a media nightmare. Biondi’s health issues were not publicly known but many in the state capital were aware of his condition. Responding to media inquiries after the flyers were sent out Biondi said chemotherapy treatment had weakened him.

In a situation like this if your lucky your opponent will portray you are amateurish, sloppy, and running a bare bones campaign unable to fact check. At worst, the failure to do proper opposition research will lead to accusations you were fully aware of your opponent’s cancer and chose to ignore it because you are a ruthless, cut throat, unethical campaigner willing to do whatever it takes to win.

George Allen Wants Trackers to Leave Him Alone

Well, who can blame him? When people talk about trackers Republican Senate candidate George Allen’s “Macaca” incident invariably comes up. The Washington Post is reporting that Allen’s campaign staff have turned Democratic trackers away from a number of public appearances since May.

In general, when campaigns turn trackers away from obviously public events, people wonder if the candidate has something to hide. In Allen’s case, they’re probably wondering if his people are afraid he’ll say something stupid.

Who's Running For President

If you asked the average person how many people were running for president their answer would probably be about 10. As of today 203 people have filed a Presidential Statement of Candidacy (FEC Form 2). You can view each of the registrations at the FEC web page here. The Miscellaneous Statement to FEC filed by Douglas George Clement is one of the more colorful.

Leave Trackers Alone - They Bite

 

People, People, People, listen to me when I say: Leave trackers alone, they bite. Trackers are a part of the game. All candidates and many special interest organizations, such as Super PACs, use them. Campaign staff need to face the fact that if their candidate is speaking in public people are going to be video taping their every word.

Now comes a cautionary tale from Ohio where staff for Rep. Steve Chabot (R-OH) asked a Cincinnati police officer at a Town Hall meeting to confiscate cameras from two Democratic activists. The officer took the cameras and returned them to the pair after the meeting finished. The two activists were filming at a Town Hall forum open to the public where news media was also openly filming. No attempt was made to confiscate news media cameras. As you can see from the video media picked right up on this and lost interest in what Chabot was saying for the better story of cops taking cameras. You can read more details at Cincinnati.com.

The uproar from many who feel this is a First Amendment issue will take Chabot's campaign off message for weeks. Worse yet, the cop who mistakenly thought he should take orders from campaign staff, will probably face an internal affairs probe to learn why he felt it was ok to confiscate personal property from law abiding citizens taking pictures at a public event. God forbid the officer is suspended, demoted or fired over the incident. The Chabot campaign will never hear the end of it. And rightfully so.

I know the holy grail of tracking is a "Macaca" like incident, but this has to be the next best thing.

 

Report: Gray Administration Violated Nepotism Laws

In a report released Tuesday, a special council committee headed by Ward 3 Councilwoman Mary Cheh concluded that the actions of three of Gray's closest aides badly damaged the city's image.

via washingtonexaminer.com

Washington Examiner reporter Freeman Klopott takes a look at the DC Council report on the Gray administration's early hiring practices. The committee found evidence supporting Sulaimon Brown's allegations he was paid by the Gray Campaign to stay in the race and bad mouth Mayor Fenty.

Trackers All Over Allen

Hoping for another “macaca” moment The Washington Times reports trackers from three different democratic organizations are shooting video of George Allen’s public appearances.

How To Spot A Phony Presidential Candidate

Let’s say you’re a multimillionaire real estate developer and you have your own TV show. You need some publicity for your show so why not say your running for President. Sounds easy enough but how do you get people to pay attention without spending any of your money? Donald Trump knows how. He has been hitting the talk show circuit calling for President Obama to release his birth certificate.

This thoroughly discredited birther movement conspiracy is getting Trump all the publicity he wanted. He went on “The View” and set Whoopi Goldberg off getting even more publicity. 

If Trump were really serious about running for President he would have gotten a professional campaign manager who would be telling him to drop all the absurd references to Obama’s birth certificate. But campaign managers cost money, and well you know the rest.