Miranda's War by Howard; Foster Read Free Book Online Page B

system?”
    â€œAnd your principles?”
    â€œI know how markets work. I want to balance the budget.”
    â€œAnd?”
    â€œAnd people in towns like this should be able to have any zoning they want. You’ve earned the right to live here.”
    â€œWill you say it now on your website?”
    He hesitated.
    â€œWhat exactly would you have me say?”
    â€œYou’re against this anti-snob zoning bill.”
    â€œI can say that, in a longer statement about my ideas on property rights or land use, or whatever.”
    â€œI checked,” she continued, her gaze boring into him. “You don’t have anything up there now on this. It’s all the usual boilerplate about healthcare and taxes and Syria.”
    â€œThat’s what people want to know.”
    â€œWhen you’re ready to speak to me, to us, let me know. I’ve got more than enough on my plate right now trying to save this town.”
    She motioned to the waiter for the check.
    â€œI’d like your support.”
    â€œAnd you know how to get it.”
    Rokeby drove back to the campaign office and went directly in to see Diane, his campaign manager, an obese single forty-five-year-old with a bad back. She sat like a sphinx on a giant blue ball to ease her pain as he recounted the meeting with Miranda.
    â€œShe’s someone I actually want to help,” he told her.
    â€œThen run for the state legislature. Her problems are not federal.”
    â€œI know, but in politics you use what comes your way. Here’s a group, my group, and they need someone to stand up for them.”
    â€œYou can’t run on that. We’re trying to broaden your base. You know the fundamentals of a campaign, Rokeby. We need more than your neighbors to win.”
    â€œBut we need them.”
    â€œSure, and you’ve got them.”
    â€œIf they vote.”
    â€œIf they vote. And why wouldn’t they if it’s close, and you need them?”
    â€œMiranda won’t put up any money. She gave me an ultimatum.”
    â€œShe’s one person on an obscure commission in one small town. How many people have asked you about zoning?”
    â€œHonestly, she’s the only one.”
    â€œAnd she’ll be the last one, because you’re running for Congress.”
    â€œPeople ask me about the public schools all the time, Diane.”
    She slid forward a few degrees on her ball and tightened her facial muscles.
    â€œYou hear a lot of noise out there. People complain about everything. We’ve got you positioned in the middle of the electorate. We need to stay there. You’re not running for the Lincoln Board of Selectmen. Lincoln is a town of six thousand, 1% of this vast district. Am I getting through to you, Rokeby?”
    â€œLoud and clear, and this minuscule primary electorate is my immediate problem, Diane. I need fifteen thousand people to turn out in six weeks in the primary to beat Cronin-Reynolds, and right now I can’t do it. I’ve run the numbers, and these towns around Lincoln cast most of the votes in the primary. So there’s a path.”
    â€œI suppose you can look at it that way, if you’re basically conceding the general.”
    â€œI understand. I want you to come up with a message to appeal to Miranda and her folks that doesn’t turn off everyone else, because we’re near the end of the road and you haven’t shown me any other way to do it.”
    â€œNothing comes to mind. You want to cut an ad about two-acre zoning? It’s gonna come back to haunt you.”
    â€œFind some way to send a message to those towns. And I’ll give you forty-eight hours to do it.”
    Her phone rang, and she ignored it.
    â€œYou’ve never done this.”
    â€œI know.”
    â€œDoes this woman have something on you?”
    â€œI suppose she does.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œI actually care about what happens to Lincoln, to all the