Opposition Research Becomes Huge Business

Los Angeles Times: “Once a dark art that candidates were reluctant to acknowledge even the existence of, political opposition research has lately turned into a garish, multimillion-dollar enterprise complete with logos, marketing strategies and indiscriminate, real-time streaming of the work product onto social media.”

“Many political traditions are being disrupted by the unrestricted cash that today’s lax campaign-finance enforcement allows. But perhaps none more than the time-honored tradition of rifling through an opponent’s background. Never before have there been so many hit jobs peddled to the media, to gadflies, to swing voters – to anyone who might notice – so openly and swiftly.”