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    Presidential campaign trackers and opposition researchers, 2016

    From Ballotpedia - Reading time: 10 min



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    Campaign trackers are individuals employed by campaigns, political action committees, and other organizations to follow and record opposing candidates on the campaign trail.[1][2] Their objective is to capture any instance in which a candidate says something offensive, off-brand, or inconsistent.

    With the growth of social media and live-streaming services, campaign trackers are now able to broadcast on location, sharing footage with both their employers and the public more effectively. As a result, they have changed how modern campaigns perform opposition research and frame the narrative of an election.[3]

    This page provides examples of campaign trackers active during the 2016 presidential election.

    2016[edit]

    America Rising PAC[edit]

    Formed in 2013 in response to a Republican National Committee report on the party's performance in the 2012 election season, America Rising is a conservative political action committee dedicated to tracking and researching Democratic candidates.[4][5] It is modeled after the progressive opposition research group, American Bridge 21st Century.[4]

    The organization covered Hillary Clinton, providing daily updates on her campaign events and media appearances.[6] In April 2015, America Rising had more than 70 employees following Clinton's movements across the country and conducting research at the organization's headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, according to The Washington Examiner.[7]

    Fox News uses America Rising tracking footage of Clinton in July 2015.
    America Rising compilation of video clips from Clinton's visits to New Hampshire.

    Tim Miller, the founder of America Rising and the former national press secretary for Jon Huntsman (R-Utah) during the 2008 presidential election, described how he approached the issue of campaign trackers: "I do think that the press people’s ini­tial in­stinct is to be hos­tile. It’s more trouble than it’s worth to be wast­ing a staffer’s time try­ing to kick out a track­er when they should be sign­ing up vo­lun­teers.”[8]

    "In the vast ma­jor­ity of cases, we tell our track­ers we want them to be a fly on the wall. We want them to go stand in the back of the room, not be a prob­lem, and get as much video as pos­sible. This is not like the old days where you’d jump some­body out from be­hind a bush and try to cre­ate a news story. That’s not our ob­ject­ive," Miller said of his own campaign trackers.[8]

    American Bridge 21st Century[edit]

    American Bridge 21st Century is a progressive super PAC that conducts opposition research on Republican candidates.[9] “We constantly are digging. You don’t always find the silver bullet every day, but the truth is we find much smaller things that push a narrative," said the organization's research director, Steven D’Amico.[10]

    American Bridge compilation of video clips with Bush discussing minorities.


    In October 2015, an American Bridge tracker gained access to a Marco Rubio campaign event in Cedar Falls, Iowa without authorization. While the American Bridge tracker recorded Rubio's speech, another tracker from the pro-Jeb Bush Right to Rise USA was removed from the event. When asked about the disparate treatment, Rubio spokesman Alex Conant said, "We typically kick out trackers when we see them. We must not have seen the American Bridge tracker – we've kicked them out of events in the past."[11] American Bridge Vice President Eddie Vale declined to say how his tracker was able to enter the event without press credentials.[11]

    Project Veritas Action[edit]

    See also: Project Veritas

    Project Veritas Action is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit that conducts investigative and undercover journalism to "expose corruption, dishonesty, self-dealing, waste, fraud and other misconduct," according to its campaign website.[12] Founded by James O'Keefe, whom The Washington Post described as a "[c]onservative journalist...known for targeting liberal groups," the organization's projects include reports on voter fraud and the U.S. Department of Justice.[13] Project Veritas, a related 501(c)(3) nonprofit created by O'Keefe, also released undercover videos.[14]

    In the 2016 presidential election season, O'Keefe's work had primarily focused on Hillary Clinton's campaign.[15][16] The Clinton campaign was on alert for Project Veritas reporters in August 2015 after several women attempted to engage staffers in improper or illegal conduct using tactics associated with O'Keefe's organization.[17] Daniel Pollack, the director of communications for Project Veritas, declined to state if the organization was responsible for the incidents. He said, "Project Veritas does not comment on investigations, real or imagined."[17]

    In September 2015, Project Veritas released a video that showed two Clinton staffers accepting a donation of $75 from an American on behalf of a Canadian.[18] Federal Election Commission rules bar direct or indirect contributions from foreign nationals.[19] In the video, O'Keefe says, "These senior Hillary campaign officials are not rookies. They know the ins and outs of the election code and we've shown you they're willing to break the law."[20]

    Jesse Ferguson, a spokesman for the Clinton campaign, responded, "This video shows a Project Veritas operative yet again unsuccessfully trying to entrap campaign staffers who very clearly rejected any foreign donation. Our staffers understand and follow the law, as demonstrated even in their selectively edited video. Project Veritas, on the other hand, has been caught trying to commit fraud, falsify identities and break campaign finance law—not surprising, given that their founder has already been convicted for efforts like this."[18]

    After the video was released, O'Keefe was asked if he planned to investigate other presidential candidates in the future. He said, "I am not a partisan person. And if the Republicans do this I might go after them too."[21]

    Project Veritas Action undercover video of voter registration training by Clinton staffer.
    Project Veritas Action undercover video alleging Clinton campaign accepted a contribution from a foreign national.

    Right to Rise USA[edit]

    Right to Rise USA is a super PAC that supported Jeb Bush's 2016 presidential campaign. By November 24, 2015, the organization had raised approximately $103 million, more than five times the amount of contributions received by its nearest competitor, Unintimidated PAC.[22]

    It spent some of those funds on opposition research. On October 1, 2015, a Right to Rise campaign tracker was removed from a Rubio campaign event in Cedar Falls, Iowa.[11] Chris Mudd, who hosted the event, expressed surprise that the tracker was employed by a super PAC backing another Republican candidate. “It was ill-spirited. Republicans shouldn’t be attacking other Republicans,” he said.[23] When asked why Right to Rise sent the campaign tracker, a spokesman for the organization, Paul Lindsay, shifted the dialogue to Rubio's attendance in the Senate. Lindsay said, "We had to go to Iowa to get Marco Rubio on camera because when we turn on C-SPAN 2 he's nowhere to be seen on the Senate floor."[23]

    In late September 2015, Right to Rise researchers traveled to Westerville, Ohio, where a local library maintains records from John Kasich's career in public service dating back to the 1970s.[24] Kasich acknowledged Right to Rise's interest in his congressional records on October 2, 2015, saying, "I got Bush's campaign people out in my hometown, and I have a library out there, OK? I got a library out there. So they've been living in this library trying to dig up all this stuff against me. ... Obviously, they must not be thinking that I don't matter in this if they're out in my hometown."[25] On the same day, Bush said he was unaware of the researchers' activity. "I don't know what the super PAC does. I have no coordination with them," he said.[25]

    2012[edit]

    Campaign trackers and oppositions researchers were commonplace during the 2012 presidential election.[8][26] One of the most highly reported stories of the election season arose from video footage of former Gov. Mitt Romney (R-Mass.) speaking at a private fundraiser where he commented on the value of votes from Americans dependent on government assistance programs.[27][28][29] Romney said, "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president [Obama] no matter what. ... [M]y job is is [sic] not to worry about those people. I'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives."[27] Brian Rooney and Josh Barro, two contributors at Bloomberg, wrote on the day the video was released by Mother Jones that the video had "killed" Romney's chances of winning.[30]

    Although a private citizen bartending the event, Scott Prouty, recorded Romney's remarks, it was a "determined freelance opposition researcher" who brought the video to public attention, according to NPR.[31][32] Commenting on the video in 2013, Romney said that "everything you say is being recorded" on the political stage. "Now and then things don't come out exactly the way you want them to come out, they don't sound the way you thought they sounded. That's just the nature of politics today, and you have to get over it and live with it," he continued.[33]

    See also[edit]

    Footnotes[edit]

    1. ↑ The Washington Post, "Tracking the trackers: What it’s like to have the most mind-numbing job in a campaign," October 24, 2015
    2. ↑ NPR, "When Politicians Slip, Video Trackers Are There," April 23, 2015
    3. ↑ CNN, "How live-streaming will change campaigning," March 31, 2015
    4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 McClatchyDC, "Step into war rooms planning Hillary Clinton’s defeat," April 22, 2015
    5. ↑ America Rising PAC, "About," accessed November 23, 2015
    6. ↑ America Rising, "Hillary Clinton Archives," accessed November 23, 2015
    7. ↑ Washington Examiner, "GOP dirt diggers dog Clinton," April 15, 2015
    8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 National Journal, "Inside the Strangest Job on the Campaign Trail," September 3, 2014
    9. ↑ American Bridge 21st Century, "About," accessed November 23, 2015
    10. ↑ McClatchyDC, "Liberal groups dig for dirt on Bush, other GOP candidates," May 20, 2015
    11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 The Washington Post, "Democratic tracker gets inside Rubio town hall where pro-Bush tracker was booted," October 2, 2015
    12. ↑ Project Veritas Action, "Company," accessed November 24, 2015
    13. ↑ Project Veritas Action, "Video Archive," accessed November 24, 2015
    14. ↑ Project Veritas, "About," accessed November 24, 2015
    15. ↑ Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named VeritasVideos
    16. ↑ The Washington Post, "New James O’Keefe video: Clinton campaign allowed a foreigner to acquire official swag," September 1, 2015
    17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 TIME, "Clinton Campaign On Alert For Undercover Conservative Sting," August 21, 2015
    18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 The Huffington Post, "Latest James O'Keefe Sting Video Targeting Clinton Campaign Flops," September 1, 2015
    19. ↑ Federal Election Commission, "Foreign Nationals," accessed November 24, 2015
    20. ↑ YouTube, "Hillary's National Marketing Director Illegally Accepting Foreign Contribution," September 1, 2015
    21. ↑ MSNBC, "James O’Keefe wants his $35 back from Hillary Clinton," September 1, 2015
    22. ↑ OpenSecrets, "Super PACs," accessed November 24, 2015
    23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Politico Florida, "Rubio campaign boots Bush-backing tracker from Iowa event," October 2, 2015
    24. ↑ Reuters, "Candidate as pack rat. What Kasich kept," October 1, 2015
    25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 CNN, "John Kasich pans Jeb Bush PAC dirt-diggers," October 2, 2015
    26. ↑ USA Today, "Researchers dig deeper for dirt on political opposition," May 23, 2012
    27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Mother Jones, "Secret Video: Romney Tells Millionaire Donors What He Really Thinks of Obama Voters," September 17, 2012
    28. ↑ The New York Times, "The Impact of the ‘47 Percent,'" September 28, 2012
    29. ↑ The Washington Post, "Romney’s ’47 percent’ comment and the importance of the echo chamber," September 19, 2012
    30. ↑ Bloomberg View, "Today, Mitt Romney Lost the Election," September 17, 2012
    31. ↑ ABC News, "The Lesson of Mitt Romney's 47-Percent Video: Be Nice to the Wait Staff?" March 14, 2013
    32. ↑ NPR, "Opposition Research Boot Camp: Learning To Dig For Political Dirt," April 22, 2013
    33. ↑ The Huffington Post, "Mitt Romney: 'I Was Very Upset' Over 47 Percent Comments," June 7, 2013
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