Chapter 22
At the end of the break the debate audience found their seats and a bell rang signaling one minute until they were back on air. The volunteers herded the candidates back to the stage. But their older New England senator, Virgil Penfield, was missing.
“Where’s Senator Penfield?” Dot asked, her eyes sweeping the room. How could they have lost him?
Fletcher heard a pounding on the bathroom door. He rushed over and opened it. The older man bolted out of the john.
“That punk locked me in, damn it! Out of my way!” Penfield pushed Fletcher aside and sprinted to the stage.
“Wow, he can move!” Harper said.
The senator, with green skittle tint on his tongue, mopped his brow as the second half of the debate got underway.
“Please tell me someone got that on video.” Mary imagined it going viral.
“I hope not!” Dot was alarmed.
Kitty would not have liked that.
With the candidates back in position, the moderators pressed on, and the crowd got more aggressive in cheering and booing the answers.
Toward the end of the second hour, it became a free-for-all, with all the candidates pandering to dairy farmers and talking over each other, and the moderators failing to get a handle on it.
The control room finally cut everyone’s mics so that they could wrest back control. It was time to wrap it up. They gave each candidate another thirty seconds for a final statement.
State Senator Lopez was passionate and gracious.
“I ask you for your vote.” And then more quietly, in her deep stage whisper, “I ask you.”
She flashed her smile and looked confidently straight into the camera.
“Gorgeous,” Mary said.
Then Governor Stone of Kentucky explained how he was clearly the only one who could beat the incumbent Republican president.
“I’m the only one who has what it takes to beat him—and, unlike others up here tonight,” he said as he glanced up and down the row of candidates, “I have a record to prove it.”
Lopez gave him side-eye and a lift of one eyebrow.
“Wow! Shots fired,” Fletcher said, rubbing his hands together.
The Wisconsin senator got a round of polite applause and talked about deer hunting with her boys. She hadn’t lit the room on fire.
Rose shrugged. “She’s nice. But even I know she’s boring and safe.”
Theo Maddox reminded everyone he was the only billionaire who could self-fund his race. Then he asked the audience to donate through his website.
“This guy’s killing me.” Fletcher put his head in his hands.
Senator Penfield told the crowd, “It’s your last chance to have me as your president. I hope you don’t screw it up like last time.” That got a laugh.
Governor Cal—it’s in the name—Ashby went last. He chose to say he was launching a brand-new website that would go live as soon as the debate finished. He gave the address out several times in rapid-fire.
As the debate wrapped up and family members swarmed the stage to congratulate their loved ones and pose for the cameras, Dot finally exhaled.
“What do you think? Who’s the winner?” Fletcher asked, catching up with her.
“Well, I’d put green arrows next to Stone and Lopez.”
“Not Penfield?” Fletcher pulled a face and made Dot laugh.
“Touché. He’s going nowhere. Except maybe Substack,” she said.
FOR THE WIN volunteers cleaned up the greenroom while they watched the spin room on the big screen.
The governor of California was doing an interview with the female host of the show with the biggest prime-time audience in cable.
“Governor Ashby, we looked up that website you mentioned in your closing statement.”
“It’s great, right?”
“Well . . . I’m not sure you gave out the correct website. I believe you said ‘come and join us dot com’ but did you mean dot org? When we searched dot com, we were taken to a . . . how do I say this . . . an ‘adult content’ site.” The host used air quotes to make her point.
The governor’s face flushed. Dot gasped, Rose’s hands flew to her eyes, and Mary’s shoulders bounced up and down as she tried to hold in a laugh. But soon they were all in hysterics.
Dot thought of the governor’s poor press secretary who’d have to clean up the mess.
“He didn’t exactly nail the dismount, now did he?” Mary asked cheekily.
“Mary Russo!” Harper pretended to be offended.
“Let’s get out of here, girls.” Fletcher led the way to the bus, which was warm and ready to take them home.
WALKING OUT OF the venue back to the bus, Dot pulled out her phone to check the headlines.
“Here’s the snap poll results. Lopez and Stone tied. Ashby trailing third, and everyone else far below,” she said to Kitty, Rose, and Fletcher.
“I’m not surprised,” Kitty said. “That trio is the strongest by far.”
“Lopez is a long shot, Kitty, but is she one worth taking?” Rose asked.
Kitty Bell didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes,” she said, striding to the bus with purpose.
Her Wisconsin team followed quickly behind her. There was so much to do.
THE RIDE BACK to Cedar Falls was lively. Cans of Spotted Cow sponsored the debate about the debate.
Consensus seemed to be that Governor Stone had the best night.
“He reminds me of Bill Clinton.” Some cheered. Some groaned.
But there was also a lot of support for Lopez.
“She comes off more factory floor than faculty lounge,” Ted Jankowski said. Dot told Fletcher to write that down. It was a good line.
There was one vote for Senator Penfield.
“I’ve supported him for years,” Rose’s friend said.
“So, you’re the one!” someone in the back yelled to laughter.
And there was broad agreement that the tech bro had to go.
After they got back into town, Kitty side huddled with Dot and Fletcher before she got off the bus.
“That was amazing, guys,” she said. “We put For the Win on the map. Great job. And thanks. But we need to step on the gas. This state is critical and there’s a lot to do.”
Dot flinched inside under the pressure, but Fletcher said, “Don’t worry, we’ve got it.” He exuded confidence, which made her feel more secure.
Kitty nodded and got off the bus and into the backseat of the car waiting to take her to the private jet terminal in Milwaukee. One of the For the Win donors had chartered a flight for her. Must be nice, Dot thought, hoping one day she could summon such a ride.
As Kitty’s car pulled away, Dot let out a deep breath. Fletcher held up his hand for a high five. Dot slapped his palm weakly.
“Don’t worry about her. She’s just stressed.” He could tell that Kitty had stolen some of Dot’s good vibes.
“Somehow we pulled that off, Fletcher,” Dot said.
“More than that. We crushed it!” He reached out his arms to hug her. When she wrapped her arms around his neck, he lifted her up and twirled her around. She let herself feel a little thrill of excitement about how well the day had ended, in the face of all the challenges.
He set her down gently and she tilted her head up to see his face.
“We make a great team, Dot.”
“We do.”
“See you tomorrow,” he said. “Oh, and . . . keep an eye on Mary. She’s wild!”
Dot laughed and glanced at her friends, who were waiting for her under the awning of the Democratic office on Main Street.
“She is. In all the best ways.”
She waved goodbye to Fletcher. He’d really grown on her. He was good looking and a good time.
“Let’s go home, girls,” Dot said, turning to The Crew.
“So, Dot, is there something you want to tell us about Fletcher?” Harper asked.
“What about him?”
“You two looked pretty cozy together,” Mary said as their shoes crunched on the light ice that had frozen on the sidewalk, and they noticed the frost on the Jeep’s windshield had been cleared.
“Wow, that was nice of someone,” Dot said, changing the subject away from Fletcher. She didn’t feel like analyzing their relationship. They didn’t even have a relationship. But could they? Stop it, she told herself.
As they climbed into the Jeep, Mary saw a piece of paper under the windshield wiper.
“What the heck?” she said. “A ticket. For what?!” She looked around to see if there was a no parking sign she’d missed. She got back out of the Jeep, resentful for having to get back into the chilly air if even for a moment.
She used a gloved hand to pull the ticket out from under the wiper. A box that said “warning” was checked. No fine.
She turned the ticket over.
“Strike two, New York” was scrawled on the back.