Now Will convened a meeting of his traveling staff around the conference table in the big jet. Moss Mallet, the campaign’s pollster, had joined them at Kansas City, and they were bound for Chicago and the campaign’s second debate. Tim Coleman and Kitty Conroy sat down.
“I’m dying to hear this, Moss,” Tim said.
“Me, too,” Will chipped in.
“Okay,” Moss said, “here it is: Bottom line, we’re in some trouble.”
“Be specific,” Will said.
“Specifically, although we’re only a point or two behind, nationally, we’ve got the potential of a sizable deficit in electoral votes. Efton could win the popular vote very narrowly and still drub us in the electoral college.”
“Where are the big electoral deficits?” Will asked.
“Illinois and California. We’ve got to win them both, or lose the election. It’s as simple as that.”
“Thank God the debate is in Chicago,” Kitty said. “If you do well there, that could be a big, big help. Remember how the first debate helped us in the South.”
“Yeah,” Will replied, “and I’m beginning to wish the third debate were in California.”
“That would be nice,” Moss said. “I don’t suppose we could arrange that.”
“Not a chance,” Kitty replied. “We’re committed to the League of Women Voters for the Washington debate, and so is Efton. It’s been hard enough to pin him down to these debates, without starting to ask for changes now.”
The phone on the conference table rang, and Tim picked it up. “It’s Sam Meriwether,” he said, handing the phone to Will.
Will took the phone. “And how’s my campaign director?” he asked. “Happy as a clam, I hope.”
“Not exactly,” Meriwether said. His voice was a little scratchy on the airphone.
“What’s up?”
“Two things: First, Larry Eugene Moody’s appeal has been rejected by the Supreme Court. He’s scheduled to die on the Saturday night before the Tuesday election.”
“And how do you think that’s going to hurt us?” Will asked.
“I don’t know that it’s going to; it’s just a distraction. The last debate is the night before the execution, and Efton is bound to try to use it against you in some way.”
“Eft is a big supporter of the death penalty,” Will replied. “He can’t use this against me without coming off as a hypocrite.”
“He’s bound to harp on your competence at the trial,” Sam said. “You’d better be ready for that.”
“All right, we’ll be ready for it. You said two things; what else is happening?”
“Eft has backed out of the Chicago debate.”
“What?”
“He says he’s too busy campaigning.”
“Well, that’s pretty lame. I’ll give him hell about it.”
“I think his people are prepared for that, or they wouldn’t have pulled him out of the debate.”
“Well, shit!” Will said. “Anything else?”
“Nope; I wish I had some good news.”
“See you later, Sam.” Will hung up the phone.
“What?” Tim asked.
“Eft has backed out of the Chicago debate.”
Sounds of anger and outrage.
“I’ll call a press conference at the airport,” Kitty said. “We’ll blow him out of the water.”
“I think he’s ready for that,” Will said. “I guess we did too well in the Atlanta debate.”
“He’s scared,” Kitty said.
“No,” Moss interjected, “he’s smart. He’s obviously run the numbers and concluded that he’ll lose fewer votes by pulling out than by debating you and seeming to lose.”
“I think you’re right,” Will said, “and I think Eft is right, too.”
“If that’s the case, what’s to prevent him from backing out of the Washington debate?” Tim asked.
Nobody spoke.
“Do you really think he’d risk doing that?” Kitty asked nobody in particular.
“He would,” Moss said, “if his numbers supported the decision.”
“We can’t let him get out of the Washington debate,” Kitty said. “We need that one bad.”
“I have to agree,” Moss said, “but we can’t force him to appear.”
Kitty suddenly brightened. “Maybe we can. Maybe we can force him to appear in Chicago, too.”
“You going to put a gun to his head?” Moss asked.
“In a manner of speaking. Let’s just go on with the Chicago debate.”
Tim spoke up. “You mean have the senator debate an empty chair? That’s kind of hollow, isn’t it?”
“No, I mean a real debate — well, nearly real.”
“You mean debate a substitute? Hire an actor to play Eft?”
“No, I mean have Eft play Eft.”
“What are you talking about, Kitty?” Will asked.
“I mean, we go right ahead as planned. We show up at the hall, and we rent a really big TV set and put it on the stage with you. Then we put together a series of Eft’s statements during the campaign, and play them back as his part of the debate. Then you answer them.”
Will’s eyebrows went up. “Debate a TV set?”
“It’ll get a lot of play,” Kitty said, “and, of course, you’d have the advantage of knowing what Eft is going to say.”
“The networks would never give us the time for a one-sided debate,” Will said, “and I don’t want to see Eft’s clips in advance, not that that would change their minds.”
“Then we’ll buy it,” Kitty said, “and quick, since the networks already have it scheduled. And, if we can make this work against Eft, he won’t dare back out of the Washington debate.”
“I think it’s a brilliant idea,” Moss said. “It has the additional advantage of making Eft look like a fool for backing out.”
“Have we got the money to buy the time?” Will asked Tim.
“We’d have to cancel a lot of other television time,” Tim replied. “Unless you and Sam can raise a lot more money in a hurry. And it only makes sense to buy one network, not all three. All the others will pick up excerpts for their newscasts.”
“How much airtime do we have to buy?” Will asked.
“They’ve scheduled ninety minutes,” Kitty said, “but let’s buy only thirty. I don’t think anybody would sit still for an hour and a half to watch you debate a TV set, but they would for half an hour.”
“The debate is scheduled for the day after tomorrow,” Will pointed out. “Have you got enough time to assemble the tape clips of Eft?”
“It’ll be tight, but we can do it.”
“Call Tom Black and get him on it, too,” Will said. “Get him to Chicago, if necessary.”
Kitty picked up the phone and started dialing.
“Was that all Sam had to say?” Tim asked.
“Well, no,” Will replied. “Larry Moody is going to die in the electric chair three days before the election. The Supreme Court turned down his appeal.”
“Oh, shit,” Tim said.
“We need to think about how this can hurt us,” Will said. “I’m not really sure that it will. Sam thinks Eft will try to find a way to use it against me in the Washington debate.”