Oppo File

What is the legacy of the bitter 1988 presidential campaign? How are oppo researchers approaching their work amidst the current national reckoning over race and policing? Host Joseph Rodota interviews Susan Estrich, the Dukakis campaign manager; Jack Corrigan, deputy campaign manager; Dr. Jack Pitney, professor of politics at Claremont McKenna College and author of a book about the ’88 campaign; Dr. Marcia Chatelain, author and professor of history and African American Studies at Georgetown University; and Sonia Van Meter, the managing partner of an opposition research firm headquartered in Austin, Texas.

What happens when opposition researchers unearth something that touches a racial nerve? Host Joseph Rodota interviews Susan Estrich, campaign manager for Michael Dukakis’ 1988 presidential campaign, about the Massachusetts prison furlough program and the case of William Horton. Georgetown professor and historian Dr. Marcia Chatelain looks back at two controversial campaign ads, and a former opposition researcher takes listeners on a road trip to Boston. 

Political attacks have been around as long as democracy itself, but where exactly does the history of “oppo research” begin? Hosts Kate Andersen Brower and Joseph Rodota interview historian and author Susan Swain about a campaign in which the target of opposition researchers wasn’t the candidate – it was the candidate’s wife. And in 2016, Liz Mair unearths a risqué photo of Melania Trump, setting in motion a series of charges and counter-charges on the campaign trail – and provoking an ominous threat.

OPPO FILE digs deep into the shadowy world of opposition research -- the art of digging into the background of a political opponent in order to identify weaknesses that can be exploited in a campaign. Hosts Kate Andersen Brower and Joseph Rodota interview oppo researchers from both parties and ask them why they chose this profession and how they package the damaging information they unearth. Is everything about a candidate – no matter how personal – fair game?