An evidence-first political campaign strategy

Research before the message

An election campaign strategy is a set of choices about who you are talking to, what you will say, and how you will answer. Political campaign planning often starts with a slogan. The more durable order is the other way around. Read the record, then decide which sourced contrasts are fair to repeat. A campaign strategy plan that skips that pass will invent lines the filings do not support, or miss the lines an opponent can support.

The working file is the one described in opposition research and in the complete guide to evidence-backed opposition research for campaigns. Identity and office come first. Votes belong only when a voting record exists. Public statements stay in the words that were said. Finance filings, disclosures, and court records stay in their own sections, each with a source. The same fields apply to your candidate and to the opponent. The office changes which sections can be filled. It does not change the citation rule.

Know both public records

Start with your own candidate. List the office sought, the jurisdiction, and the cycle from the filing. Then list what a hostile reader can already open: a vote, a quote, a receipt total, a disclosure, a case that matches the person. Self-research is that reading. It is not a softer standard. A vote counts as a vote whether it belongs to the candidate you work for or the candidate you are running against.

Then build the opponent file with the same headings. A first-time candidate may have an empty vote section. Leave it empty. A federal candidate's money is often in an FEC filing. A state or local candidate may never appear there, and the finance section is the state or local disclosure instead. Do not move a number from one system into the other. Which records a race family can carry is mapped in 9 types of race-specific research campaign teams need.

District context from public data

Message choices depend on the place and the office. Use public research hubs rather than a private story about "the voters." Browse by race to see the office family. Browse by state to see the jurisdiction. Write the office title the way the filing prints it. A U.S. House memo and a state-house memo are not the same file because both use the word house.

District context from public data means the things a reader can open again: who filed, which office, which cycle, and which records exist for those people. It does not mean a turnout model, a secret poll, or a claim about why a precinct votes the way it does unless you have a public source for that sentence and you cite it. If you do not have the source, the sentence stays out of the plan.

Message development from sourced contrasts

When the two files exist, the contrasts worth using are the ones both files can support. Write each contrast as a pair. One line is your candidate's record. One line is the opponent's record. Each line names the document, the date, and the limit of what that document shows. A quote without the surrounding sentence is not ready. A spending comparison that mixes a short reporting period with a full year is not ready. A vote line for someone who has never served is not ready.

Candidate comparison, as a live OppIntell tool, is a way to put those profiles next to each other. The comparison is useful when each side still carries its citations. It is not a license to merge two records into a single motive. Contradiction flags work the same way inside one file: they point between two sourced items, and a flag with one side missing stays an open question.

Vulnerability research and rapid response

Vulnerability research is self-research aimed at the lines most likely to be repeated. Rank them by whether the record is public, current, and easy for someone else to open. A line you cannot document is not a line to answer in advance. A line you can document belongs in a short answer: the attack, the record, and what the record does not say. That answer is the start of rapid response.

Rapid response with receipts is a reply that a reporter or a voter can check. If the attack says a candidate voted a certain way, the reply cites the roll call, including an absence if that is what the roll call shows. If the attack uses a dollar figure, the reply cites the filing and any amendment. If the attack is a prediction or an insult with no factual sentence, say that, and do not invent a factual sentence to answer. The AI research assistant can help a team draft from material already in the file. The draft still has to match the records.

A short planning checklist

Use this campaign strategy plan as a gate before a line is approved for an ad, a mailer, or a speech.

1. Name the office, jurisdiction, and cycle from the filing, for your candidate and the opponent.
2. Open the finance record that matches that office. Note the report date and any amendment.
3. Add votes only where a legislative record exists for that person and that bill.
4. Store quotes as the words that were said, with the date and the surrounding context.
5. Write contrasts as paired, sourced lines. Drop any line the pair cannot support.
6. Run the same pass on your own candidate and prepare the receipt for each likely attack.
7. Check the place and office against race hubs and state hubs before the message treats them as one electorate.

How OppIntell supports the research layer

OppIntell is the research layer under that plan, not a substitute for the campaign's own judgment. Live capabilities include source-cited candidate profiles, donor network mapping from disclosed filings, candidate comparison, contradiction flags, and an AI research assistant. The homepage describes coverage as 24,000+ U.S. candidates, across parties and across federal, state, and local offices. Donor network mapping shows reported gifts. It does not show a private promise. Profiles refresh from public records. A sentence in the strategy still has to name the document that was current when someone read it.

This guide does not set a budget, a media mix, or a field plan. Those choices sit with the campaign. The research standard does not: no contrast ships until the record sits beside it. This page is not legal advice.

Questions researchers ask

Start from the public record

OppIntell builds source-cited candidate profiles from public records. If you want a file a second person can check, use the contact form on the opposition research page.

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