Winning at the top of the ballot
Case Studies
TN-04, 2002
“This guy can dig up more dirt with a pencil than any farmer can with a shovel.”— Rep. Lincoln Davis
One of the maxims of opposition research is that there are no silver bullets. Luckily for Lincoln Davis, that’s not always true. Our work played a vital role in his 2002 Democratic Primary win for Tennessee’s 4th Congressional District. That race pitted him against a wealthy NASA subcontractor who opened her checkbook in an effort to defeat our client, a longtime state lawmaker and small-business man.
“When you need the job done right you call Stanford. Stanford provides by far the most complete research in the business and they are there when you call” — Beecher Frasier, Lincoln Davis’ campaign manager
Fran Marcum spent twice as much in the primary as Lincoln Davis did in his entire 2002 campaign, but Stanford Campaigns turned her wealth against her when we discovered that NASA had caught her company submitting $7 million in “dummy invoices,” resulting in a large fine. It’s as close to the mythical silver bullet as they come.
The campaign used the documentation we uncovered in an effective corporate-fraud attack on TV, as well as in direct mail that was featured in the Washington Post and on CNN’s “Inside Politics,” which called it the Political Play of the Week.”
Lincoln Davis won the primary with 57% of the vote despite his fundraising disadvantage. He went on to pick up the Republican-held open seat in the general election and held onto the seat until the 2010 wave.
“The ad practically bristles with outrage… ‘It was the perfect ad at the perfect time.’” — Washington Post, Jul. 31, 2002
“Political Play of the Week” — CNN