Fair Play By DR. DORA KINGSLEY
saging and decision making to stand up to the scrutiny of experienced journalists and inquisitive voters, don’t rely on unsophisticated quick hits. Get professional help. In 2008, John McCain’s presidential campaign relied largely on volun- teers, and worse, first time staffers to research the opponent, vet workers and donors and develop rapid response messages. It isn’t exactly a winning technique. On the Internet information is assumed to be
plentiful and free. But new information is being created every day. In just 18 of the 24 months be- tween campaign cycles, the world doubles its total amount of information. Public records are avail- able at no cost, but privately held information is more often protected—soon, even The New York Times will charge. Less than 10 percent of information is available
via systems which law enforcement agencies refer to as “Open Source” records. The rest is only avail- able for sale from private sources, must be accessed directly from a government agency or is classified. Even the best and brightest who feverishly search their iPhones and Blackberries from the front seat of the campaign bus only have access to a mere fraction of all that is knowable. In the heat of battle, what you don’t know can kill you. Living through an entire campaign with a re-
searcher who hasn’t spent more than 10 minutes in a library or at a government office looking at original source documentation means you’re re- ally missing the mark. Find a voting record online or use an outdated database listing and you risk the health of your campaign on information that amounts to a placebo. As G.I. Joe repeats, “Know- ing is half the battle.” Stand-up comedian Jim Gaffigan is fond of
saying real bacon bits are the fairy dust of food. Like pigs in swill, opposition research has a bad name but has been cultivated for 3,000 years. If it’s given short shrift or not done properly, your campaign is at a major disadvantage. In business, politics or war, successful teams know their com- petition as well as, or better than they know their allies. The adage “keep your friends close and your enemies closer” was invented as a tag line to sell research.
76 Campaigns & Elections | Canadian Edition
Google Can’t Save Your Bacon W
ho needs professional dirt diggers when you have Google, Wikipedia and, now, Bing? If you want your campaign mes-
The private sector engages in the strategic pro-
cess and calls it B.I. for “Business Intelligence.” Military strategists created and perfected the art form. Known as counterintelligence, research is used to detect and prevent attacks and (character) assassinations. Sound familiar? Data and facts must be organized before informa-
tion is created. Smart kids using Google (or forgive them, Wikipedia, the completely self promotional posting site not verified by any outside source) are just gathering data and facts. Websites such as
OpenSecrets.org or individual state agencies’ such as the Oklahoma Ethics Commission Public Dis- closure System provide campaign finance reports, which are merely organized listings of expenditure data and donation date factoids. This is a typical stopping point for the well intentioned. Before information rises to the level of becom-
ing intelligence it must be analyzed. Search engines miss the mark when it comes to adding a method of analysis, any analysis. Officially, the term used for their method is “search engine optimization.” Unofficially, oppo forces call it free word associa- tion. Searching the web doesn’t rise to the level of applying actual analysis. Analysis takes information and seeks to answer the question: “SO WHAT?” Is the candidate’s bio truthful? Has the campaign accepted money from evil doers? These are facts. Tell me how a candidate experiences his mother- in-law’s breast cancer death and the affect on his support for health insurance reform. Then you’ve analyzed the situation sufficiently. Campaigns are set in a time-space continuum
but not the one that Einstein theorized. Cam- paigns are framed by the political environment of a very specific point in time and space: post-9/11 and pre-Katrina; recession or recovery. These cir- cumstances offer context but won’t last beyond one or two election cycles. Pull your bacon out of the fire and make true opposition research the meat of your campaign. Avoid the sugary substitutes high in tasty tidbits but low in actual fuel content. Opposition research will make your campaign messaging better, your fundraising easier and your advertisements more effective.
Dr. Dora Kingsley is founder of Trenton West, a national policy and opposition research firm based in California and Washington, D.C.
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80