--- title: The 2016 Mudslinging Has Begun, But So Far It's Pretty Tame description: No Republican has announced a presidential campaign yet, but a Democratic opposition research group is starting to sling mud on them. canonical: https://time.com/3623274/american-bridge-2016-book/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-12-08T16:07:34.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:47:32.290Z article:section: Politics og:title: The 2016 Mudslinging Has Begun, But So Far It's Pretty Tame og:description: No Republican has announced a presidential campaign yet, but a Democratic opposition research group is starting to sling mud on them. og:url: https://time.com/3623274/american-bridge-2016-book/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44b869c31ddf0ce5/698764193c16393c6b44f6d6/bobby-jindal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Bobby Jindal og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The 2016 Mudslinging Has Begun, But So Far It's Pretty Tame twitter:description: No Republican has announced a presidential campaign yet, but a Democratic opposition research group is starting to sling mud on them. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44b869c31ddf0ce5/698764193c16393c6b44f6d6/bobby-jindal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The 2016 Mudslinging Has Begun, But So Far It's Pretty Tame > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Dec 8, 2014 4:07 PM UTC  Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal delivers a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on Oct. 6, 2014. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal delivers a speech at the American Enterprise Institute in Washington on Oct. 6, 2014. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Dec 8, 2014 4:07 PM UTC The Iowa caucuses are more than a year away and no Republican has yet officially declared for the White House, but that’s not stopping Democratic opposition research group American Bridge from trying to sling a little mud. The group released a nearly 200-page 2016 “[scouting report](http://time.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/scoutingreport.pdf)” Monday morning with biographical sketches and dirt on 20 members of the potential 2016 Republican presidential field. From Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal writing about participating in an exorcism to Florida Sen. Marco Rubio’s close ties to an ethics-plagued former member of Congress, the document is a largely a summary of news clippings, public records, and a handful of mugshots. American Bridge made a name for itself in 2012 when it brought Senate candidates Todd Akin and Richard Mourdock to the center of the national political conversation, and helping to re-elect President Barack Obama by accusing Republicans of waging a “war on women.” But this book is a far cry from that. The document is far from a shot to the knees for the GOP field, consisting almost entirely of well-covered news and mini-scandals. Some of the storylines, like New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s “Bridgegate” or Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s ongoing criminal case for abuse of power are ongoing and will pose a challenge to the Republicans, but they are well known. But that’s besides the point for American Bridge. Why would it release its best finds before these potential candidates make things official? In fact, some of the best opposition research on Republicans will likely come first from GOP primary opponents. American Bridge is laying the groundwork to influence the GOP primary by at times hitting Republicans for not being conservative enough for the party’s base. (John Kasich’s 1990s health care plan, for instance.) Whatever juicy dirt the group has, it will look to save for when it will have maximum impact: the general election, when voters are far more interested in the campaign. Indeed, the reasons for releasing the document now is less about taking down Republican candidates, as it is about fundraising for the group and its small army of trackers across the country. American Bridge is hardly alone in the opposition field. America Rising, a research firm founded in 2013 by former RNC operatives, played a pivotal role in multiple 2014 races, and has already released an e-book attacking former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. At least one Republican, though, didn’t attract too much attention from American Bridge this cycle. It’s entry for Mitt Romney, the 2012 nominee who has faced calls from some in the GOP to mount a third bid for the White House, is just a photo and the text “MITT ROMNEY 2016?” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3623274/american-bridge-2016-book/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3623274/american-bridge-2016-book/"},"headline":"The 2016 Mudslinging Has Begun, But So Far It's Pretty Tame","datePublished":"2014-12-08T16:07:34.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:47:32.290Z","description":"Not much new in 200-page report","url":"https://time.com/3623274/american-bridge-2016-book/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44b869c31ddf0ce5/698764193c16393c6b44f6d6/bobby-jindal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt44b869c31ddf0ce5/698764193c16393c6b44f6d6/bobby-jindal.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Bobby Jindal","caption":"Bobby Jindal","creditText":"Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3623274/american-bridge-2016-book/","name":"The 2016 Mudslinging Has Begun, But So Far It's Pretty Tame"}}]}] ```