President Trump tweeted that "Ed Gillespie, who ran for Governor of the Great State of Virginia against Ralph Northam, must now be thinking Malpractice and Dereliction of Duty with regard to his Opposition Research Staff. If they find that terrible picture before the election, he wins by 20 points!"  Whether you like him or not, POTUS has a good point. 

High-quality opposition research has always been an essential component of any well run political campaign.  As with special teams in football, albeit not the most glamorous part of the game, it is the one that most often decides close contests.  Often, this misunderstood craft is viewed negatively as being something scandalous.  Upon hearing the word "oppo," outsiders and even some media insiders all too often conjure up visions of digging through garbage cans and stalking people into the wee hours of the night.  In truth, high-quality opposition research, which has been my life's work, is a craft requiring good organizational skills, deft critical thinking, and a significant degree of creativity. 

Following the recent exposé featuring the racist and blatantly offensive photos from Virginia governor Ralph Northam (D)'s medical school yearbook, the chattering classes have been ablaze in shock and horror.  The obvious questions are, how come no one in the media found this sooner, where was Ed Gillespie's opposition research team in 2017, and how did former Virginia governor Terry McAuliffe (D) not know that his lieutenant governor's med school nickname was "Coonman"?

In the era of the thirty-second spin cycle, where every warm-blooded person on Twitter is an expert, classic opposition research has taken a back seat to what amounts to silly memes and obvious innuendo.

Well executed and fact-based opposition research has three phases: gathering, winnowing, and polishing.  Each segment is valuable, for without one, the others are incomplete.  The gathering phase calls for obtaining every piece of information possible, including a person's yearbook, writings, video and audio recordings, voting records, financial information, media clippings, and anything else relevant to a person's background and history.  Next is winnowing, when the findings are read, studied, and compared to identify themes and indiscretions.   At this time, the materials are fact-checked for accuracy and organized, all the while disregarding non-essential and redundant information.  This moment is also when certain items are set aside for further investigation, because some material is always missed in the initial haul.  The final stage is polishing – this is when all the relevant data are edited and formatted for practical use by the campaign's strategists and pollsters, the communications team, and the media. 

Unfortunately, in today's new-age political climate, these foundational research steps have been substituted for what amounts to sloppy research rife with unsubstantiated charges and silly rumor-mongering.  Well done opposition research takes money, but more importantly, it takes time, and it is the cornerstone to almost any victory.  With many campaigns and much of the media overly obsessed with meaningless gossip and process stories, it is probably the only option left for candidates to get correctly and sufficiently vetted. 

At its core, opposition research is a vital academic discipline.  It allows the voters to see below the surface and to adequately investigate the facts so they can make a  well informed decision as to which candidates are best suited and most deserving to be their representatives in Congress, the state house, and City Hall.

The scandal surrounding Governor Northam's yearbook is proof that he was never suitably examined, and there is plenty of blame to go around.  As in most episodes of malpractice, those responsible for the damage never suffer the consequences because in such cases, the consultants and the journalists get paid either way.  It is always the trusting masses of loyal citizens who bear the brunt, sincerely wondering how no one thought to report that the man they faithfully elected governor is guilty of having a past replete with genuine racism and cruel bigotry.

Bruce Backman is president of Backman Consulting, a New York-based political consulting firm, specializing in opposition research.  Twitter: @BackmanConsult.