Electing To Murder by Roger Stelljes Read Free Book Online Page B

across the conference table.
    “It is, Kate, it just is,” Sally responded.
    “It should be ours. The governor is from the neighboring state. He’s worked well with their governors over the years. He provided help with the flooding a few years back. Thomson went to DC and worked with the Wisconsin and Illinois governors on the high-speed rail line, of course, until Walker killed it. He’s been visible, yet here we are.”
    “We’ve been over it time and again,” McCormick replied. “Wisconsin has shifted a little right the last couple of years. Not completely to the right but enough that it’s in play. No doubt about it. It’s been a struggle this election cycle and probably will be for years to come. They elected Walker governor and he’s a Tea Party guy, so there is a definite conservative streak over there and we’re seeing it in this race.”
    “I still can’t believe, even to this day, that they elected that guy two years ago,” Shelby muttered.
    “But they did, and to a certain degree, the electorate, other than the Tea Party and hard righties, has probably regretted it, but that’s what happens in wave elections,” McCormick replied, looking at his own set of Wisconsin data.
    “Man, Walker has been hard on us, especially the last two weeks,” Shelby continued with concern. He has me worried, the way the numbers started sliding.”
    “We’re gonna win it, Kate,” Sally replied. “I think it tightened because Republicans on the fence went home. Some Republicans were sitting on the fence, thinking about voting for the Democratic governor of the next door neighbor, but then decided to go back home and vote red. That explains the recent drop. Now the numbers are holding around three to four points to the good in Sconi. If the status quo holds and nothing crazy happens, I think we’re going to win it. I can feel it.”
    At least Sally sounded confident. McCormick and Shelby were not but they were seasoned political professionals. Politics could change on a dime and five days was plenty of time for something to happen. Wisconsin needed to stay in the governor’s column. Shelby and McCormick had to watch the entirety of the campaign. They had tasked Sally with keeping a close eye on Wisconsin. They didn’t have an electoral vote to spare. The campaign had put Governor Thomson in the state eight times in the last month, along with the copious amounts of time he was spending in Iowa, Ohio and Virginia. Surrogates galore flooded into Wisconsin, senators, governors, the governor’s running mate, the senior senator from North Carolina, not to mention two former presidents. The effort seemed to pay off. The numbers had stopped dropping and Thomson might have even picked up a point. The extra attention paid by the governor and the campaign seemed to be paying off, at least for now.
    Ohio, on the other hand, was dead even, as it had been since the summer. Shelby, Kennedy and McCormick all stared at computer screens and ran through Ohio polling data when there was a knock on the door. It was the Judge, with four beers in his hands. “I see three weary workers in need of a bump.”
    The beers were gratefully accepted and all three took long drinks. It was after 10:00 p.m.
    “So, team, do we remain at a three-point lead?” the Judge asked. He knew the answer but wanted to get the conversation started.
    “Appears so, Judge,” McCormick responded.
    “And what of Ohio?”
    “Same. Dead heat any way you slice it. Unless something seismic happens in the next five days, that state will go until late into the night on Tuesday.”
    “That’s no surprise,” the Judge replied with a rueful smile. “As my good buddy Timmy Russert used to say, it’s all about Ohio, Ohio, Ohio.”
    “Looks like that’s the way this thing will break,” Sebastian said. “We were just discussing the schedule for the governor and we think we need to get him into Ohio at least three more times before the election. We need to get