Chapter 200

Tuesday morning the first call before the day had even started was from party chairman Carl Isham. The party had succeeded in purchasing two blocks of time on the three major networks at 2000; the beginning of prime time. Each was on Monday evening so one would air the evening before most states opened early voting and the other eve of the general election.

General Ingram was the next in with updates on the troop withdraw and the fleet exercise in the South China Sea. North Korea had suddenly gone quiet and patrol boats that had been acting like a bunch of busy bees disappeared back to their ports.

Secretary of State Dean was in next. We had a two hour discussion on Iran and the election of delegates to modify and approve the proposed constitution. The election had gone well with almost no problems. Most of the problems were from confusion and an attempt to do things the old way.

The Army demolition unit was still destroying weapons and explosives collected from the population and former military sites. So far there had been no mishaps. Citizens were still turning in weapons and pointing out former military storage sites.

I was added to a conference call with Andy, Vicky, Ching Lee and Jenny. The discussion was about hiring more people for the security department. Black and Bear were working on more contracts for southern Africa and we were still short for Cameroon and Nigeria.

‘‘If we are short people then hiring is a no brainer, but don’t forget that in eighty days you are going to get the thousand back from the Iran contract,’’ I said.

‘‘These numbers we need are assuming the men in Iran are going back to their assigned work areas in eighty days,’’ Vicky replied.

“Work up a poster and I will see it gets posted at the military bases, recreation areas, on bulletin boards and to the teams doing departure interviews. That about all I can do at this time,’’ I said.

‘‘That’s all we can ask. We didn’t know if that avenue was still open to us or not,’’ Vicky said.

‘‘Everything is supposed to ready at 1900 for you to make the TV commercials at the campaign center tonight. Carl has several scripts that look good. They are going to shoot some fifteen and thirty second ads as well,’’ Jenny said.

‘‘I’ll be there on time, see you then,’’ I said as I closed out of the conversation.

At noon media sites were going crazy and the Finney campaign was playing defense and cover-up. Finney was suddenly unavailable for his daily press briefing, promo breaks or anything.

His media person refused to answer any questions. The police departments that had covered up the incidents were being hounded by reporters for statements. The police officers that made the stops and arrests were being hounded by reporters for statements. Freedom of information request papers were flying in every direction.

The diehard liberal stations were already claiming the data bogus, possibly fabricated and unreliable; some even reporting it came from abroad.

Russia was always an easy target but then Britain’s MI 5 was gaining reputation for dirty tricks as were Romania, North Korea, China and the Czech Republic.

The Justice Department was being called upon to investigate its source and authenticity. Liberal Senators and Representatives were calling for an immediate Congressional investigation.

With Congress on recess in a few days, nothing would be done before the election. The freedom of information requests could take months, depending how hard the individual agencies wanted to fight them.

At 1800 I was walking through the door to the campaign headquarters - greeting people - as I made my way to the rear of the building where I knew the recording studio was.

Carl Isham, Paul Ryder and a dozen more were waiting with my mates. We had a good laugh about Albert Finney’s problems today. He did offer a half assed apology last night, obviously not serious. That didn’t matter now - he was between a rock and a hard place while looking for a cave to hide in.

With the liberal mentality that they could do no wrong, I figured his woes would last a week before his liberal media backers would have done everything to squash it and change the direction of the public’s focus.

I read all the scripts several times then read them out loud. Two makeup ladies worked their magic. There were also three changes of clothes to see what the camera liked best. When everyone was satisfied, I stood on the X taped to the floor.

Behind me was the black draped wall with the flag of the President and the United States. There were lighting people and several different camera men for camera angles.

What I was to say was projected on large screen ahead of me; an oversize teleprompter. I did each of the long speeches four times - they were for the five minute national ad buys for the two Monday nights. I changed clothes three times and repeated the speeches.

While the professionals reviewed all the videos and edited them, I worked on ads for the fifteen Senate races I wanted to keep. I was going to campaign with each of them at least once over the next two weeks.

After that there were voice recordings made endorsing conservatives running for House seats, especially those races that were going to be close. I was going to do hundreds of them or as many as I had time.

The old standby was brought in for a quick supper. There was pizza from almost every pizza shop in the area for everyone in the building. Pizza must be some kind brain food; it was always the go-to food when things were complicated or rushed.

Many of the scripts were the same, just a name change and sometimes adding a precinct or district. Cue cards had already been filled out to speed things up. I was doing one every forty five seconds with multiple devices recording.

I was finished at midnight and called for a quick meeting with my mates, Carl and Paul. I wanted to know from Carl the financial situation - how we were doing on contributions - would the party have enough funds for a final media push in the final week?

I was glad to hear contributions were up considerably, but. There was always that word - but. For the next twenty minutes Jenny laid out how the Super PAC was going to help the fifteen Senate candidates and many of those running for the house spots.

The Senate candidates were in a tough spot. Even though some big spending liberals had died, the liberal candidates still had plenty of money. With decisions made I flew back to Washington. One of those decisions was more polling on the Senate candidates and assigning someone to help them and improve the numbers.

The Generals were in early with updates. Another ten thousand troops were going to be coming home from Iran starting today. The rest of the National Guard was also coming home. It would be a slower pace for them because they had to pack up equipment to bring with them.

The investigation into the New York mess was in its third week of work. The debris from the Soweto was being hauled away to a landfill where authorities could go through it with rakes, picks and shovels and could fill cases of evidence bags.

They had learned a lot from the twin towers collapse. It went slow at the beginning but moved a lot faster at the end. New York started out using the faster method this time.

Eric Roberson - Director of Homeland Security - was at the door.

‘‘We have problem with the Bloomfield building. NYFD is refusing to enter the building to search it for bodies. The building is swaying, moving way more than normal in even a light wind.’’

‘‘Engineers are wanting to clear all the debris from the Soweto building and blow the pillars to cause the Bloomfield building to fall into the vacant lot that once held the Soweto building,’’ Eric added.

‘‘That sounds like a reasonable plan to me. I guess the mathematics have been double checked to make sure the Bloomfield building will fit in the lot under those conditions. What about the explosion of debris to the adjacent buildings on both sides of the streets?’’ I asked.

‘‘What kind containment plan had been developed for that?’’ I added.

‘‘They are going to plywood the fronts of all the buildings sixteen feet high. In front of that they are going to hang heavy duty blast curtains one hundred feet high off crane booms held by cables.’’

‘‘At the time of the demolition the fire department is going to flood the lot and the falling debris with water from dozens of ladder and tower trucks to keep the deadly dust down,’’ Eric said.

‘‘All that sounds reasonable, so what is the problem?’’ I asked.

‘‘They want to know if the military will use helicopters and blast the pillars next to the Soweto property to make it collapse that way?” Eric said.

‘‘There is no guarantee for sure what way it will fall unless they attach cables to winches to put tension on it. I can’t see the military wanting the liability unless they do something to increase the chances of success besides potluck,’’ I said.

‘‘What about a demo company to put it on the ground?’’ I said.

‘‘Four of the biggest have been to look at it and want nothing to do with it,’’ Eric replied.

‘‘I’ll call them up and tell them to do more engineering. But you would authorize Army helicopters to blow the pillars?” Eric asked.

‘‘I’m sure the General will want the Army to do an assessment of their own. If they are satisfied I will approve it,’’ I said.

Using military equipment and missiles in a civilian setting carried all kinds of risk. But - there was that word again - but a quarter of Wall Street was shut down from the explosions.

The Bloomfield building was sitting there teetering on the edge. It would eventually come down on its own but when? A week, a month, six months and in what direction would it fall? It needed to come down on New York’s schedule and place of choosing and soon.

A quarter of Wall Street was shut down, seven city blocks out of the middle of it. Seven city blocks with heavy damage and depending on the Bloomfield building, how soon they could be repaired? Buildings in twenty blocks had damage.

Wednesday morning was the last day before the congressional break and Congress was deadlocked on two bills that needed to be passed. Important people that should have been on the floor were packing up. Vice President Harrison was in the Senate chambers instead of campaigning.

At 1500 I closed my desk and rode to Andrews to start four and a half days of campaigning. This trip was a mix of must win states and campaigning for the Senate seats I wanted to add on my side. Some of these states I had been to already as many as three times and would repeat several more times before Election Day.

It was Sunday night before I got together with my mates. Air Force One landed at Morton Field at 0000. My mates were waiting for me. We made up for time apart behind closed doors; I was spending Monday at home to be with my family and boys.

We were late getting to the kitchen for breakfast. We six girls in the big shower turned into too much fun. When I dressed, I need to wear a turtle neck to hide the evidence of too much fun last night and this morning. It had been too long and our bodies and souls needed that kind of rush.

Today was going to be a mix of Presidential, JBG and campaign things - in that order. I spent the morning on MTAC to first the Generals, then to Dick James of the State Department and finally to my staff at the White House.

I had lunch with the girls and boys. After that there were a couple hours of JBG business I was caught up on.