Michael Collins

USA Today

WASHINGTON — Before most of the speakers trash-talking Hillary Clinton at the Republican National Convention had even left the stage, Isaac Wright and his small army of fact-checkers were already blasting out real-time rebuttals in Clinton’s defense.

“Lyin’ Ted Lies And Fear Mongers About Syrian Refugees,” screamed the all-caps headline on a take-down of Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

“Pence Lies About Hillary’s Comments About The Benghazi Tragedy,” trumpeted a critique of the prime-time address by Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, the GOP vice presidential nominee.

In its biggest coup, the group got its hands on an advance copy of Donald Trump’s acceptance speech and then compiled and distributed a report on what it called “Trump’s lies” — hours before the GOP nominee for president delivered the address to the convention’s delegates and the nation Thursday night.

“It’s important to stop false narratives and untrue things before they become accepted,” said Wright, the West Tennessee native who runs the pro-Clinton group, Correct the Record.

Wright, a bearded father of two who cut his teeth on political races in Tennessee and other southeastern states, has been the super PAC’s executive director since 2013.

In an era when untruths can spread with lightning speed across the globe, Correct the Record exists to provide a rapid-response defense of Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, against what it calls baseless right-wing attacks.

The group’s operations center, or “war room,” is located on the sixth floor of a modern, glass-front high-rise office building in one of Washington’s up-and-coming neighborhoods.

Virtually around the clock, the group’s researchers, communications experts and digital gurus monitor live news feeds from the major television networks, cable channels and even local television markets. They search newspapers and keep watch on social media sites for any disparaging or misleading remarks about Clinton and her record.

Whenever they spot what they believe is a distortion or outright lie, they fight back — with point-by-point fact-checks quickly disseminated to the news media, with slick videos that often use the offenders’ own words against them, and with a cascade of social media posts on sites like Twitter and Facebook.

“People in our war room are brilliant – they are some of the brightest minds in Washington,” Wright said earlier this week from the cubbyhole of an office where he oversees the group’s operations.

Directly behind Wright’s desk, on a mint-green wall, hangs the sparsely decorated office’s most prominent feature – a huge whiteboard that, on this particular day, has been wiped clean to keep a reporter from seeing what projects the group has in the works. Tacked to an adjacent wall are posters of Clinton’s campaign logo.

Wright, who grew up in Martin, Tennessee, nearly three hours northwest of Nashville, has been an admirer of Clinton for years. He served as the South Carolina communications director on her first presidential campaign back in 2008.

Probably no one in history has been more qualified to be president than Clinton, Wright says. Polls show that a majority of Americans believe she is not honest or trustworthy, but Wright attributes her high negatives to a long-term attack “from the right-wing spin machine that goes back years."

“They realize she is somebody with not just a vision, but with the leadership and capability to implement that vision and move America forward,” he said. “And effective leadership scares partisan politicians on the other side.”

Wright, a graduate of the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, was working on political campaigns and as a public affairs consultant in Little Rock, Arkansas, when he got a call in fall 2013 telling him about a new group being founded by conservative-turned-liberal author David Brock to defend Clinton against such attacks.

The group was Correct the Record, and Wright quickly signed on.

Before the organization was fully staffed, Wright penned some of its first defenses of Clinton. His role today is more like a chief operating officer. He handles budget and personnel matters, oversees a staff of nearly 40 and helps with communications and messaging, said Brad Woodhouse, the group’s president.

“He has a calm and steady demeanor, which is not typical of people in this business,” Woodhouse said. “He’s a great strategist. He really understands the convergence of communications strategy, social media strategy, good solid messaging to voters, to the press. And he’s incredibly organized.”

Wright’s first exposure to a campaign war room was as a young staffer on then-Vice President Al Gore’s campaign for president in 2000. During political debates that year, he was given the task of making sure that rapid-response materials that needed vetting were seen by the right people before they were sent out. Once they were approved, he clicked the “send” button.

His stint with Gore’s campaign was followed by other jobs in politics and government. He worked on the congressional staff of then-Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Memphis, and on Ford’s unsuccessful campaign for Senate. He also served as a campaign adviser and communications director to Arkansas Gov. Mike Beebe and later helped Jay Nixon get elected governor of Missouri.\

During his time in Arkansas, Wright, 36, said he developed an even deeper appreciation for what Clinton accomplished during her time as the state’s first lady and in her later roles on the national stage.

Clinton listens to people – really listens, he said, something he witnessed when he worked on her first presidential campaign.

Wright recalls traveling with Clinton’s entourage on one of her campaign swings through South Carolina in January 2008. As they were leaving one event, he mentioned in passing that he needed to call his mother, Jenna, and wish her happy birthday. Clinton asked his mother’s name.

When they got to the next campaign stop, Clinton’s aide, Huma Abedin, handed him Clinton’s note card containing her campaign schedule for the day. On the back, in Clinton’s handwriting, was a message to his mom: “Happy Birthday, Jenna,” it said.

Wright’s older sister died before he was born, so he grew up as an only child who was especially close to his parents. Clinton’s thoughtfulness touched him and his parents in ways she could never have imagined, he said.

“She had no way to know what an impact that would have,” he said. “But she cared enough that, in the middle of a campaign for the most important position probably in the world, she stopped and was concerned that my mom hear from her son on her birthday.

“Somebody with that kind of heart and care is who I want to lead the free world.”