On tracking President Bush: "Right now we are watching everything Bush says. We know everything he does, everything he's done... We're ready. In any campaign, the incumbent's job is to tell the public why they should vote for him... We put quotes, votes, and anecdotes together, and we build a case. When we’re ready to release it, we go out and hit the opponent, hit him hard. It has to be relentless, and it has to be every day. There is almost never that silver bullet. October surprises are once in a lifetime. It’s death by a thousand cuts."For more, The Atlantic recently looked at "the cloak-and-dagger world of opposition research -- the updated version of dirty tricks."
On the upcoming election: "Right now we’ve been putting out stuff on policy, compiling and dissecting Bush’s record as president. Otherwise, we spend a lot of time in courthouses and libraries, but sometimes we use trackers, people who trail candidates....We’re getting geared up for this election....The Republicans are going to attack Kerry as a liberal and do what they did with Gore, try to attack him as a liar. We know it’s coming, and we’re ready for it. The current stuff is hard to talk about because we’re in the middle of it, but I would say the influence of special interests on the Bush administration is going to be a big factor. Look closely at Bush’s policy decisions, look at whom they benefit, and then look closely at how much money they gave him. I think Bush’s credibility is going to be a huge issue."
Goddard is also co-author of You Won - Now What? (Scribner, 1998), a political management book hailed by prominent journalists and politicians from both parties. In addition, Goddard's essays on politics and public policy have appeared in dozens of newspapers across the country, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, Chicago Tribune, Philadelphia Inquirer and Christian Science Monitor.
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