Chapter 196

I listened as the girls filled me in on today’s work. Lorrie had rented an entire wing of commercial buildings in the industrial park on Kent Island for a campaign center. It was only a few miles from the home office and a few more from Morton. It was just five hundred yards from the east end of the Bay Bridge.

Being an industrial building, it was divided into very large offices and large empty work areas. Baltimore Office Supply was delivering office equipment and setting them up now as we talked. They had three warehouses one; in Baltimore, one in Philadelphia and one in Richmond.

Bobs Construction had pulled all his crews to the building, putting up solid walls and doors to help deaden some of the noise and to keep the sanity of those working there. With walls and such, cable troughs would run across the top. There would be a place to run cables and not have trip and fall hazards.

Ma Bell had been there all day running phone lines and activating them, then double checking them to see that they worked. Marcy knew how and when to torque them up. JBG had thousands of Verizon cell phones and thousand of business lines and direct numbers to executives.

A bank of 800 numbers for toll free nationwide was set up. Fiber optic cables were already in the buildings for internet. Robert was sending computers and tech people tomorrow to get those systems up and running. Two days and Jones for President would have a working headquarters.

Vicky was already setting up the necessary twenty four hour security. Security cameras would capture outside, inside and the parking lots. Entrances were going to be changed and limited.

It was the new norm for the paid protesters to block, disrupt, threaten and apply graffiti and break windows at campaign offices. Hopefully security could discourage that kind of activity.

A media team was hired first thing this morning to produce the TV and audio ads. They would set up a media room in the wing to record and develop TV and radio media.

Carl Isham and Paul Ryder were flying in to Morton tomorrow. They had been pre-purchasing TV and radio ad time spots on all networks and all major market radio stations through their connections.

That at least gave us a breather until the campaign made our time slot purchases and some ads could start immediately.

With a combined calendar for all the girls that displayed all the mandatory events and meetings they needed to attend, we started picking out days, nights and weekends we could do campaign stops and rallies.

After spending the night together with my family, they went back to the shore Saturday morning. They were going to check on the campaign HQ.

The first ads were to hit prime time viewing tonight. I needed to prepare myself for all the interviews that I was going to have to do. In deep conversation we decided Jenny - for the time being - would be the coordinator handling that.

She volunteered because the Curtis Warrens law firm was on payroll to handle JBG’s complicated legal matters. Her HR division had multiple lawyers on staff for internal problems, contract interpretation and modification.

Saturday morning I had a joint meeting with the State Department and the Joint Chiefs. It was a planning session on Iran. Video conferencing with the Boxer and the State Department people in Iran took place. It was a long video conference.

When the video conference was over, we had an outline for the new government of Iran and a time outline for different events that needed to take place.

On the political side, first there needed to be an election to write a new constitution. The Iranians would elect the delegates to do this as the first step. One of those would be constitutional limits on the military and the power and influence of Islam.

There would be a list of disqualifiers for the delegates such as holding any position in the former government or military officers of rank.

There would be the need to design and develop a new judicial system eliminating any influence of Islam and the Koran. Former judges would be barred from participating. In fact, many were going to be tried and executed for their crimes against humanity with some of the sentences they had handed down.

On the military side interrogations of the prisoners would need to be finished so it could be decided what risk they posed and their prior involvement in terrorism. Those that posed little or no risk would be freed.

Iran would need a national security force. The makeup of that force needed to be outlined including what part former officers would have in that force. Many of the low level prisoners could fill the security force.

Saturday afternoon at 1800 Marine One landed me at the Island High School football field. It was directly across from the industrial park. There were too many vehicles in the parking lot at the industrial park. The Island Fire Company engine and ambulance was there to provide emergency standby.

With all of us in attendance, planning with Carl and Paul Ryder was started. The girls had been here since 0900. I was spending the night at home. Sunday morning I was back to the White House - alone.

Sunday morning at 0800 I made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed to see some of the injured soldiers from Iran’s combat. I spent three hours at Walter Reed by design. The White House press corps was along but I would not allow them to take any pictures of any injured or me with them - unless the injured approved.

At 1100 I walked in the rear security door to Sunday Morning Live studios. I was making an unannounced visit to Washington Sunday Morning Live. This time it would be just me; the girls were way beyond busy. This visit was a start for the campaign.