The Tillis memo shows just how brazen politicians and their allies have become. What started as vaguely outlining ad buys through the media and posting minutes-long “B-roll” footage of a candidate on their website has entered a new phase in which campaigns and parties offer insight into their needs as if they were sitting in a boardroom personally explaining it to the men and women who run outside groups.
“Because we cannot coordinate, our campaign is often in the position of reacting to things our allies do after they have done them,” Shaw wrote, without irony, in the memo. His solution: opening up his own political playbook and trying to indirectly call the plays for his allies.