Chapter 6

Representative Laurie H. Wright, (D IL-21) Tuesday, November 2, 2010

I wasn't particularly worried about my chances for reelection. My opponent had launched an ad attacking me for my support of Michelle Black and it ended up backfiring by making him look like an apologist for rape. In the only debate of the campaign I had given him just enough rope to hang himself and the night ended with him declaring that "some girls are just easy to rape." The last poll we took showed me with a seven point lead and a 19 point gender gap. Still, it had been a strange year and we weren't leaving anything to chance.

By the time the polls closed I was spent. I drove back to the campaign office and flopped down on a couch in front of the TV screen, eying the bottle of champagne that had been purchased for the victory celebration as the results came in. We were doing pretty well so far. Joe Sestak was ahead in Pennsylvania and NBC had just called a couple of races in North Carolina for us.

After about 30 minutes my phone rang; it was Pam Davidson.

"Have you seen the exit polling from New York."

"No, I've kind of been focusing on Illinois."

"Well it looks like we're going to hold on to the House."

I knew where she was heading with this.

"So when are we dropping the Program bill?"

"As soon as we get back on the 15th."

"Have you talked to Nancy about it?"

"She didn't seem particularly enthusiastic. But Michelle Black's lawsuit is being decided the 12th, so there will be a lot of attention on this heading into the weekend. We're only going to keep the House because of this issue, and the Speaker knows it. She'll have to schedule a vote."

"What about the other side of the aisle. I talked to Bobby and he wasn't willing to budge, and didn't think any of his colleagues would be either."

"They'll have to after tonight."

That wasn't how I saw the situation, but I didn't say anything. Even though the bill was doomed, I figured it would at least keep attention on the issue after the election.

When she hung up the phone, I noticed that I was starving. I glanced back at the TV and grabbed a slice of pizza. Austin happened to be going back for seconds at the time, so I took the opportunity to talk to him about something other than politics. Once the election was over, I would finally have some time to get back to being a Mom.