Campaign finance might seem like the exclusive province of political reporters, but there are many good reasons why authors should be paying attention--both in races for education positions and in other key races at the local, state, and federal levels with implications for education. Basic math is a necessary skill and familiarity with a spreadsheet, is helpful. Once the basics have been mastered, a good campaign finance story can take on the fun of light detective work. When writing the story, it is recommended that many numbers can be confusing and bog down a reader. Highlight the handful of most important numbers and spend the rest of the story explaining why they matter. The article recommends talking to graphics department staff about visualization of the data if at all possible. If a graphics department is not available, Tableau Public, is a free data visualization tool that is easy to use and allows going beyond simple charts and pie charts in displaying data. Finally, the reader is advised to think of their campaign-finance analysis as a resource to return to throughout the year for subsequent articles. Campaign finance and data reporting resources are provided.