Shauna Daly, a veteran Democratic strategist who spearheaded President Obama’s 2008 opposition research efforts and served as a senior adviser to American Bridge during the 2012 election, outlined the difficulty Bush poses for opposition researchers. “The last time I was at Bridge two years ago, the Jeb Bush file hadn’t been updated in a really long time,” Daly said, noting that private-sector records like those most sought out for Romney, and possibly Bush, are more cumbersome to unearth and sort than records from time spent in public office.
“I would say that Jeb is a pretty big challenge because all of his stuff is [Securities and Exchange Commission] filings and I would hope that people had begun to request that stuff a while ago, because once you get into [Freedom of Information Act requests], it takes a long time for those to come around,” Daly said. “With Romney, people had been requesting that stuff for years. If you don’t have a head start on that it would be difficult.”
In 2012, American Bridge built off prior Romney attacks and produced a 950-page book for the pro-Obama super PAC Priorities USA detailing “every business deal of Mitt Romney’s career,” which Priorities adviser Paul Begala said served as the basis for most of the $65 million worth of ads the group ran against him. Woodhouse said a report like that can take “many, many months” to put together, but said those concerned they won’t be up to speed on Bush can rest assured. “We’re looking at everything,” Woodhouse said.
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