If you’re running for public office in the year 2018, and you’re rattled by the appearance of a campaign tracker, U.S. politics may not be the thing for you.
We’re talking to you, Phil Weiser.
Weiser, who is running to become Colorado’s next state attorney general, is not only unsettled by trackers, but the Democratic candidate also seems have just learned of them this week.
“This is ‘Pat,’” he said in a tweet that included a picture of the GOP operative. “We are not sure that’s his real name, but we are sure he’s following me around Colorado. The Republican AG Association is desperate to find attack lines and has so much dark money, they’re paying him to tape me so they can later misrepresent my words.”
“Pat” is a tracker. This is standard stuff, folks.
Trackers “are individuals employed by campaigns, political action committees, and other organizations to follow and record opposing candidates on the campaign trail,” Ballotpedia explains. “Their objective is to capture any instance in which a candidate says something offensive, off-brand, or contradictory.”
That Weiser seems to have gone this long without knowing about this standard class of political operative is almost impressive. It’s especially impressive considering Democratic Party chief Tom Perez has called for the unionization of trackers.
Social media users took Weiser’s original tweet as a go-ahead to mock the tracker’s personal appearance. This prompted the candidate to tweet later: “I am strongly against mocking someone’s appearance. I also oppose the intimidation of someone hovering and filming when having a conversation with citizens in Alamosa or Ordway. That happened.”
He added, “But what’s worse is that the filming is to generate misleading attack ads.”
Campaign tracking is a dirty and unpleasant job. It’s also not new to U.S. politics.
Ask former U.S. senator George Allen, R-Va., whose political career ended in 2006 after a tracker caught him on camera using the word “macaca.”
“S.R. Sidarth, an unknown 20-year-old University of Virginia student, was thrust into the national spotlight when a Virginia senator with presidential ambitions singled him out for ridicule,” the Virginian-Pilot recalled in 2016.
The report added, “For five days in August 2006, Sidarth had been following then-U.S. Sen. George Allen, a Republican seeking re-election, to videotape his speeches. Sidarth was working as a ‘tracker’ for Democratic candidate Jim Webb – a common practice used to keep tabs on opponents.” (Emphasis added.)
Allen used the word “macaca” in relation to Sidarth and, well, you know the rest.
Well, you may know the rest. I’m not so sure about Weiser.
