It has become a familiar sight for education policy mavens this election season: panel discussions, in Washington and elsewhere, hashing out the presumptive presidential nominees' differences on performance pay for teachers, private school vouchers, and other reliable topics of debate. But the candidates themselves have not appeared at these events--it has been their surrogates, experts who are helping to craft education plans for Senator John McCain or Senator Barack Obama. Such advisers, whether paid staff members or volunteers, help send signals on the policy directions their candidates would pursue if elected to the White House. And successful candidates often tap campaign aides to serve in their administrations. This article reports on the roles of advisers in campaigns, especially in an environment where neither candidate is going to have a lot of time or a lot of interest in getting into the details on education. While advisers can make recommendations, a co-director of Education Sector, a Washington research organization, warns that it is ultimately senior campaign officials--and the candidate--who develop proposals.