The "Political Operative" is a special character that you get for building a Level 3 HQ. To the game, he is of the same "type" as those of candidates and running mates.
The operatives that you hire (ie. spin doctor, smear merchant, etc), or the ones you can get from a "?" on the map (ie. cheerleader, media darling, etc) are all of type "activist". These are the type of objects that the Fixer can take out.
Were you trying to take out the first type?
