ALL IN: Race for the White House (23 page)

I’ve been in enough negotiations to always pull back a little, even though what Gene was offering was much more than we’d expected. He had obviously planned to make an offer that we couldn’t refuse, and money was a
game
to this guy. He was investing
millions
to guarantee
billions
from the Federal Government.
 

I half teased, “Hey, Gene, could you arrange for a little Mercedes or something like that for my assistant, Sandy? She loved the car you got me, and she’s been so loyal. If that wouldn’t be too much, I think the rest of this can be worked out.”

Gene said, “Consider it done. You know, Jack, there’s something I’ve been dying to say to you.”
 

“What’s that?”

“It’s that I’m humbled by the way you’ve been able to distance yourself from your own father’s business dealings and become popular, even loved, by the public.”
 

“Not everybody, Gene. The Republicans hate my guts.”

“Well, you’re liked by enough people in this country to run for president and win; I could never do that.”

“Well, Gene, from those that much has been given, much is to be expected. Popularity and even the Presidency can be bought. Getting known takes cash, which you’ve got.”
 

“Jack, in my later years I’ve been really depressed about the way this family is viewed by the
few
who know about us beyond these walls. I’ve gotten everything I’ve wanted out of life, now I want to be popular and liked. I want what you’ve got. Can you get this for me, too?”
 

“You have a wonderful family, Gene.”
 

“I’ve never had sons, neither of my girls had any ambition. All they wanted after college was to get married. They both ended up with bums with pedigrees from families that had seen better days. Lily and Timlin are meal tickets. My so-called sons-in-law sweet-talked their way in and made grandchildren so they could live off my daughters. They basically sleep, eat, and spend money. You know, if it wasn’t for Betty, I don’t think I’d put up with it.”
 

“Gene, I’ve got an angle that I think might work for you. You could donate a section of land to set up an energy research area, funded by your family to help the nation with its energy situation. Why don’t you let our PR Company work with you? The energy could go toward fueling homes for the poor. We could do a few photo ops out there and gradually build your family name.”
 

“It sounds like it could work.”
 

“It will work. You could put your bum son in laws into it as figureheads or maybe buy them seats in the state legislature. Your grandsons could be congressmen or senators someday.”
 

“Jack, I’ve seen your charisma on television and I was forewarned that you could sell, but I am truly disarmed. Hearing it from you, it feels real
.
I want to be part of it all.”
 

“Jack, you asked me before what I see in guys like Juarez and Santoro. I admire the fact that they get what they want and will do anything to get it. I see that in you.”

“That’s true, but they have no respect for human life; is that how you want to be remembered? Eventually, we’re all memories, Gene.”
 

“You have a way about you, Jack.”
 

I entered the hallway flanked by my team with Gene Hobbs standing off to my side.
 

“Hi, I’m Will,” the young man said. “I’m the producer.” As he quickly began working to mike me up, a pretty, young twenty-something walked over, who appeared to be busily talking on her cell phone.
 

“I’m Macy Smith,” she said, extending her hand. “A reporter with the local KIM affiliate.”

She pushed the phone into her pocket. “I’m so happy to meet you, Senator. They gave me this assignment; actually, I begged my editor for it.” Macy stated, starry-eyed, “I’m like your biggest fan. I love what you’re saying out there.”
 

“Judging by the results tonight, I think a lot of people do,” Will added in a more mature tone, finishing, attaching my microphone.
 

I could see the brightly lit room behind me reflected in the large glass doors we had first entered tonight. The heavy pillars, the double staircase, the thick colonial moldings all in reverse. Accentuating the strange cast of characters crowded to the front, peering over the two landings. In what had been a whirlwind yet bizarre evening we had accomplished what we came to do.
 

Will motioned to a kid holding a camera, “That’s Frankie. He’s our Videographer.” Frankie nodded.
 

Then Will turned, “Are you set?”
 

Macy nodded, “Go.”
 

Everything was happening quickly. Turning to me, “Senator we will go live as soon as you’re ready.”

“Anytime is fine,” I answered, feeling like a dad chaperoning a high school field trip. Will held up his hand and counted off with his fingers, “in five... four... three..,” then silently the second and then the last finger pointed to Macy.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

On the plane back to Washington, I called Sarah, “How’s everything, Honey? Are you and the girls okay? How’s Mom doing?”

We would make a quick trip to Reagan and drop everyone off and then I would fly home tonight to be with Sarah and the girls in Kentucky.
 

“Your mom is feeling better, Jack. The doctor thinks she will be able to live at home with help.”

“Oh, thank God, she would have hated a nursing home.”

“Guess what? I asked Karen to come and be a nurse for your mom; she’s going to take a three month leave and do it.”

“That’s the best news! You couldn’t have made a better choice. Mom really likes her. For that matter, so do I.”

“We’ll have both Karen and her husband there helping on the ranch.”

“Good thing, we’re going to be on the road a lot. Next stop, we’re heading to South Carolina.”

“Jack, can I join you after South Carolina? I promise you I will be there for the whole time in Florida. I’m exhausted, and I’ve got to give the girls a little structure, get them back to school and settled in.”

“I guess I can do South Carolina alone; Bud is working on something really big down there. Once he fleshes out all the details, he’s going to lay it all out for me. He didn’t want me distracted tonight, but he’s all excited.”

“I figured you didn’t need me along, 19 points up in South Carolina.”

“If we were behind you’d have had to come with me, so you lucked out. You’re my star hitter. Look what you did for us being in New Hampshire, shopping with the girls! Bud said it was worth 5 points having you show up.”

“Jack, you’ve got to promise me one thing, though.”

“What, Honey?”

“I don’t want you taking Sandy all over the country with you campaigning,” she said bluntly. “I mean, that ridiculous get-up she was wearing tonight, right there on national television. It looked like Halloween with her dressed up as Marilyn. I didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. You had that Megan…”

“Her name’s Macy,” I realized immediately that I should not have corrected her.

Sarah raised her voice, “What did I say? Oh, whoever she was, teenage-looking reporter practically falling all over you with Marilyn at your side. What a farce. I was waiting for her to sing ‘Happy Birthday, Mr. President’ in a throaty, half drunken voice, and it wouldn’t have surprised me if she had.”

“I’m sorry, Honey. We brought her up there hoping she’d meet some rich guy and…”

She cut me off, “She’s in love with you, Jack. If you can’t see that, you’re an idiot.”

“You know there’s nothing going on. She runs the entire office,” I tried to cajole.

Sarah continued, “Do I have to spell it out for you? All my friends
know you like Marilyn, a lot, maybe more than you should. Your secretary shows up, a dead ringer for her, on national television standing right next to you while your… I give up. We’re retracing the lines here. Promise me.”

“She will be at the office, I promise.” I tried to explain, “I need her there, anyway.”

“Jack, I know she does a good job. If she didn’t, she’d have been gone years ago. I’ll see you tonight.”

“Don’t be mad, Sweetheart. I’ll be home in a few hours. I can’t wait to see you.”
 

I didn’t say it, but few people realize—and I wouldn’t even have wanted Sarah to know—Senators, including me, do next to nothing. Members of Congress have teams of staffers, all bright, hardworking people who do all the heavy lifting. My senate colleagues, golf, fund raise, and go on junkets spending money given to them by lobbyists while the
smartest and the brightest
do all the work.
 

The only pressure is getting re-elected, and senators only run part-time. Congressmen don’t have that luxury, having to run every two years. That’s why the guys born with silver spoons always choose the senate. The truth is, every member has someone like Sandy that leads the team, organizing and handling the actual job. Teams of young attorneys hoping to make their way with the powerful read the briefs and prepare the reports. There are speechwriters, researchers, and even hard-core career guys who take the preliminary meetings and hash out details. There is even a steady stream of interns dying to get close that does all the grunt work. The truth is, the life of a senator is pretty easy, and the longer you manage to stay, the easier it gets. Once the deals are done by staffers, we basically go in, smile, and shake hands for the cameras. It’s hard to believe the public isn’t on to all of this now that everything is on C-SPAN 24-hours a day. Either the ratings must be so low there’s nobody watching, or people don’t see it. If it wasn’t real, it would be funny. A bunch of old geezers sitting in the front leather seats nodding off, flanked by teams of assistants sitting behind them in the cheap, uncomfortable chairs, sometimes whispering in their ears, sometimes passing papers, all the while doing the real work. Only in America.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The following morning I awoke before dawn to a hound’s barely audible howl. The sound, which seemed to be coming from a half mile away, was mixed with the closer sounds of birds and the chimes I had hung on the front porch. The faint and cold breeze from a window left slightly opened was whispering its way into the bedroom, carrying the pair of curtains back and forth, barely brushing across the thick white molding of the windowsill. As the light grew less faint, I could make out the silhouettes of a painting Sarah had on the wall past her side of the bed. The normally brightly painted ladies seemed faintly colored in the minimal first light of morning.
 

I felt a little guilty as everyone was back to work in Washington this morning, but pushed the feeling aside and rolled over, resting my face back into the pillow. The last thing I felt before I drifted off to sleep again were the dog’s paws pushing at my back. Sophie liked to snuggle and sleep between Sarah and me, always trying to fix herself equally between touching us both.
 

I was awakened by the buzz of my cell phone that I had thrown on the nightstand before falling into bed. Usually I did not bring the phone into the bedroom, but after the long day and the travel back to Kentucky, I dropped the contents of my pockets before peeling off my clothes and falling into bed. Being on all night at the fundraising event had been exhausting, but well worth the donations which Bud had calculated at seventy-eight million. Hobbs and company were the heaviest of hitters, they knew what they wanted and weren’t afraid to pay dearly to for it. We needed the money, but there were two things that concerned me about Gene Hobbs: one was his association with Juarez and Santoro that smelled of trouble, and two, his hands off status with the agency. We discovered a group led by Hobbs had offered to build Barker’s Presidential Library. Clinton’s cost in the neighborhood of one hundred sixty-five million, so the pledge was probably worth two hundred million with today’s construction cost. Tip told me a hands off order could only stick if it came from the top.
 

I reached over for the cell and saw Sarah was waking up. I smelled coffee brewing from the Coffee Maker we had preset.
 

Sarah stirred, “I love sleeping in with you. When was the last time we got to stay in bed?”

“It’s been a while, it feels like our honeymoon.”
 

I checked my text messages.
 

First from Tip:
will need a lot of security for what Bud has in the works
.

Second from Sandy:
so excited to wake up this morning to a brand new SLK 350. Love you, Jack, Call Me!!!

I moved the phone closer so Sarah wouldn’t see the message; it would be hard to explain and would ruin the day. I wanted to see my mother and have some family time before heading back to Alexandria this afternoon.
 

I pressed the delete button.
Wow! Gene Hobbs works fast!
He must have had one of his people on the car for Sandy immediately after we spoke of it. I was glad he got her something in the fifty thousand range; I was afraid he might try to prove a point and get the SLS Roadster around two hundred grand. That would be tough to explain. Money meant relatively little to the guy and I couldn’t be mad he did what I’d asked, because it was quicker than I would have liked. Especially after he raised 78 million bucks for me the night before! Now I would have to explain to Sandy that the car was a gift from Gene,
not from me
, and hope she hadn’t told too many people at the office. Scratch that, if she told even one person, the cat would be out of the bag and it would be all over the office by now.
 

Third, from Bud:
Jack, call me as soon as you can. Have great news about SC.
 

Fourth, from Lisa:
Sandy gets a car. Really, Jack?
 

I was right, that tabby ain’t goin’ back.