We're With Nobody

"There are still people out there who are shocked to hear that a candiates hired "an investigator," as they put it, to "smear" their opponent. So much for our belief in political transparency." 
--Alan Huffman, We're With Nobody: Two Insiders Reveal the Dark Side of American Politics

Huffman and his co-author and business partner, Michael Rejebian, could've done without the subtitle. We're With Nobody spills no dark secrets and doesn't drop any bold, 16-point fonted names. It might've been reasonable to expect those things (Rejebian and Huffman briefly discuss the crestfallen publishers who may have entertained the project only for the visceral character assassinations they were expecting). But the opposition-research men thankfully deny us that guilty pleasure and instead take us on a lighter, though significantly more thoughtful, journey.

For anyone with more than a passing interest in campaigns (I'm not sure who else would be interested in the book), We're With Nobody contains no earth-shattering revelations. Yes, there are interesting tidbits about the process of oppo-research, the roll of the Internet in that process (spoiler: it doesn't help much), and how their work will be used or mis-used by the campaigns that pay them. But many of us are already aware of the capriciousness of aspiring-pols. We can already calculate the theoretical impact of un-closeted skeletons. And we already suspect the powerful of engaging in dark misdeeds and darker obfuscations. Even when the information is new, it immediately feels like old news--a feeling Rejebian and Huffman are likely familiar with.

The book is at its most entertaining when relaying nameless anecdotes, such as the Florida politician who didn't understand why he needed researchers to look into his own background, only to end up being skewered on some long-forgotten indiscretions. These anecdotes are inter-cut with observations from the authors' twenty-odd years in the business. Observations like the American public's unnecessarily antagonistic relationship with opposition research (the book repeats itself--almost ad nauseam--on the subject of so-called "smear campaigns" being a natural--if ugly--part of open democracy); and the media's roll in disseminating--or damning--the facts upon their reveal. And the authors clearly understand the manipulative roll campaigns take with their hard-found data, adding a few touches of sympathy to their lives' work ("A police detective who gets caught tampering with evidence will likely get his case thrown out of court," Huffman writes, "but in the realm of politics, that same practice may be rewarded").

We're With Nobody is several levels above political fluff, but neither is it a hard-hitting treatise on the industry which, admittedly, might be hard to do when the authors have judiciously declined to name names. For that professionalism alone, the book is kind of remarkable. And a refresher-course on how political idealism is often pummeled by political realism--delivered with a spoonful of sugar--may be just the antidote to the coming dark days of convention season and the general election.

Grade: B