Merriam in his push to defeat social reformer Upton Sinclair. The major thrust of their work was a smear campaign against Sinclair, alleging in newspaper stories that he seduced young girls, and placing film reels that depicted Sinclair's supporters as socialist pro-Soviets. Fundraising Whitaker and Baxter also specialized in fundraising, and maintained a massive web of operations throughout California, representing a range of industries, ethnic groups, and special interests. They developed early models of campaign finance and expenditure, including spending money early to drive out challengers (as in Goodwin Knight's 1954 gubernatorial campaign) or holding as much as 75% of their total funds to the end of the campaign (typically, the last three weeks), when voters were paying attention. California Features Service In addition to the core of Campaigns Inc., Whitaker and Baxter had two side businesses which helped them satisfy their client's needs. Clem Whitaker Advertising Agency was the advertising arm of Campaigns Inc. With this, Whitaker would plan and design all advertising efforts for his clients in accordance with the campaign strategy he developed with Campaigns Inc. The California Feature Service was a newspaper wire service which delivered articles and editorials to about 300 local newspapers in California. Whitaker and Baxter would create these releases to mimic editorial copy. Editors looking for quick content to fill their papers often would not notice that the copy was from an advertising service. Contributions to public relations Whitaker and Baxter made lasting contributions to the field of public relations. Firstly, they developed the political consulting into what we know it today. They are responsible for professionalizing political public relations by developing the first organization whose purpose was solely political campaigning. Campaigns, Inc. was formed in 1930, after the landscape of the political marketing industry as a whole was experiencing changes and developments throughout the 1920s. These changes came from the overall development of commercial mass marketing in the beginning of the century. Whitaker and Baxter dominated the field for years without competition, and have a track record of winning seventy out of seventy five campaigns between 1933 and 1955. Campaigns Inc. is responsible for shaping macro-level features of political public relations that remain relevant today. They were the first organization to comprehensively be in control of all aspects of a campaign for both individuals and for larger organizations "interested in constitutional amendments or other issues". This was significant not only in