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Mark Halperin first caught The Oracle’s attention during the Biden dropout saga of 2024, where a deep well of Biden-world sources put his reporting 48-72 hours ahead of the mainstream media.
We spoke with Halperin about the art and science of cultivating political insiders as sources, public vs private polls, and a 2028 dark horse that could be 30x undervalued.
This interview has been edited for length. All answers are his own.
Note: Apologies if you received a clipped version of this email. This is the correct version.
I first became aware of your show 2WAY during the Biden dropout. You were 48 to 72 hours ahead of everyone else on that story. As much as you can reveal, who were those sources? And how long of a relationship had you built with them?
I had 11 core sources for the story, and I’d say I knew most of them for at least a dozen years, some quite a bit longer. Some of them, in terms of their roles, would be obvious if you asked what job someone would have who would know about such a thing. But some of them were far from obvious. Some were the kind of sources I’ve developed over time: people who normal people wouldn’t necessarily have heard of, people who aren’t thought of by most reporters as quote unquote sources, but who are very knowledgeable, are around that kind of information, and are willing to share it with somebody they trust.
Imagine you’ve just hired a rookie reporter straight out of college. How do they get sources?
See people in person. Don’t rely on electronic communication. Develop information that you can trade to people. People who are good sources typically implicitly want to