Chapter 7
“Lyman!” Josh sent the rest of his team on their way and turned to greet the state party chair.
“David! I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Josh lied without compunction.
“I re-arranged my schedule today when I heard the announcement yesterday.”
“Oh, I thought maybe it was the picture on the front page of today’s paper. You know, the one of
our candidate and my team celebrating the Wild victory?”
“What the hell, Lyman? What are you doing running Peterson?” David Strauss was pissed already.
That kind of took some of the fun out of it for Josh.
“I told the DNC who we were running, didn’t they send that info down the line.” Josh asked knowing
full well that they had. “I know the D triple C knew because they placed several phone calls to me
and my staff about it.”
“Yeah. Telling you to back the hell off if you weren’t going to run Taylor.” David pointed out.
“Oh, that was the problem. The D triple C seems to have misunderstood my relationship to them. I
don’t work for the DNC or the D triple C. It’s part of the reason I get up smiling every morning. I
occasionally consult with them, and even lease my services to candidates they are supporting, but
I don’t work for them or take orders from them.” Josh’s voice remained level but he purposefully
stepped into David’s space.
“What is this? You think you’re God’s gift to campaigns?” David’s voice went up several decibels.
“This Julie Peterson you’re backing isn’t going to get through the primary.”
“Then we’ll go down fighting for the right person.” Josh’s voice rose in response and he noted that
they were now putting on a show for several members of the press. “Julie Peterson has the core
values and the integrity to represent the people of Minnesota honorably in Congress. I wish I had
100 more Julie Peterson’s to run all over the country. You party hacks can’t see past your egos to
recognize the real thing when you see it.”
“Julie Peterson doesn’t have a prayer in hell in this race. She’s an unknown and she doesn’t have
the experience.” David shot back.
“She’s worked for Senator Stackhouse for 6 years where she learned how to collaborate with
members of Congress and White House staff!” Josh said incredulously. “And the Senator has
chosen to endorse HER, incidentally, bypassing your hand picked, white, male, milquetoast
candidate without a second glance.” Josh started to walk away, counted 8 steps, then turned for
his parting shot. “We may have an uphill battle, we may be the underdog, and we may very well
lose, but Julie Peterson is the right person for this seat. You may not be able to see that, but I’ve
helped put 3 candidates in the White House and thousands of others in public office. Don’t ever
question my professional opinion again.” Josh continued on his way through several members of
the press and walked right past Brian and Julie whom he winked at before walking outside.
“And that, my dear Ms. Peterson, is how we do it in the big leagues.” Brian whispered.
The media jumped on David Strauss asking about the ‘conversation’ and why THE Josh Lyman
was throwing his weight behind a virtual unknown when the D triple C already clearly had their own
favorite. David was inundated and so was the Peterson campaign. Requests for interviews with
Josh were dismissed but then neatly pivoted to Julie for face to face time.
Warren Taylor was answering more than a few questions himself…
“Mr. Taylor, do you consider yourself an underdog running against the Lyman machine?” Taylor
was surrounded in the lobby and decided to take a stand and answer some questions.
“Certainly not. I was recruited by the D triple C at the behest of the DNC. I am very comfortable
with my support and my resources.”
“Did Mr. Lyman indicate why he chose not to run your campaign?”
“You’ve misunderstood the circumstances. Mr. Lyman never told me he would not run my
campaign.”
“But he interviewed both you and one of your opponents, Julie Peterson, and chose to back her
instead.” The reporter pushed.
“No, now you should check your facts. I went to Lyman’s office at the request of the DNC for
a…mutual interview process.” Taylor alleged.
“So you turned down Lyman consulting?”
“Neither of us pursued a professional relationship past that initial interview.” Taylor said factually.
“That doesn’t make sense. Why would a candidate turn down Lyman’s help? His team has one of
the best reputations in the country.”
“Sometimes it isn’t a matter of professional bona fides, but simply a matter of personality conflicts.”
Taylor concluded. “That’s all, thank you.”
At the campaign office of Julie Peterson, Taylor got cat calls and raspberries blown at him.
“One of the best?” Josh took exception to the reporters comment about his professional rankings
in politics. “Who is he kidding with this ‘one of the best’ crap?”
“Maybe he was talking about the west coast office.” Holly suggested.
“Maybe…” Josh allowed but still frowned.
All 3 national networks and 2 cable networks played the story on their air that night; most with
video clips of the ‘incident’. After the clip aired came the analysis.
“You should have taken a couple more steps away from him so you could have shouted louder.”
Billy critiqued.
“I took 8.” Josh protested. “And I was loud enough.”
“God, Josh, it looked like you were ready to challenge him to a duel there; take eight steps out and
draw your weapon.” Holly teased.
“I’m against hand guns, Holly, you know that.” Josh replied and noticed his wife had gone quiet.
“No comments, Donnatella?”
“You just keep getting better with age, Joshua.” Donna announced and kissed him lingeringly.
“Get a room!” Brian called and everyone laughed.
“There are kids in our room, get out of the office.” Josh retorted and continued kissing his wife.
Donna finally ended the kiss and then leaned over to Julie.
“Now you do something with this.” She indicated the coverage with a wave of her hand and Julie
nodded.
***********************************************************************
“Why do you suppose the party chair became engaged in a conflict with Josh Lyman?” the 100th
reporter asked for the 100th time that day.
“Clearly he isn’t very familiar with Josh Lyman.” Julie gave a practiced chuckle. “He’s a pretty
formidable opponent. I’m just glad he’s in my corner.”
“What do you think it was about you that had Lyman Campaign Consulting leapfrogging over the
handpicked D triple C candidate and working with you instead?” the reporter continued.
“I never imagined a firm that had a reputation like the Lyman’s would take me on as a client. They
said they saw something in me that they didn’t see in Mr. Taylor. I don’t know what that was, but
they’re exceptional at what they do, so unlike Mr. Strauss, I’m not going to question their
professional opinion.”
All the interviews continued in that vein. The first part was dedicated to the link between Lyman
Campaign Consulting and the second part was dedicated to finding out more about this newcomer
to Minnesota politics.
Julie thought her jaw was going to lock in place from all the smiling when Holly announced that she’
d done her last interview for the day.
“Amen.” Julie sighed. “I’m taking a hot bath and going to bed.”
“Sure; right after you go downstairs to meet with Mandy and Peter about fundraising.”
“What?”
“And since you need to be up early tomorrow, you might want to skip the bath and go for a quick,
hot shower.”
“I’d be thrilled with a hot towel at this point.” Julie muttered.
“That’s not part of the service we generally offer, but since we all love to negotiate…” Brian trailed
off as he sat down across from the two women. “How’d she do?” he asked Holly.
“Overall, pretty well. The answer on social security is still a little shaky.” Holly replied.
“It will get better with practice. How about the education stuff?”
“As well as can be expected.” Holly and Brian shared a look. “When is she meeting with Education
Minnesota?”
“Not soon enough.” Brian replied. “She needs a better answer there too.”
“SHE is sitting right here!” Julie protested.
“We know that. Why do you think I’m here? I need to take you to your next meeting.” Brian
gestured for Julie to follow him, so she did, with Holly close behind.
When they got in the elevator, he started talking fast. “Mandy is brilliant but can sometimes be
hard to take; kind of obnoxious.”
“So she fits in really well with the rest of you?” Julie shot back and Brian smiled.
“Exceedingly well.” Brian answered. “Her husband, Peter is usually pretty quiet, so don’t let that get
to you. Do you have any Motrin on you?” he asked.
“In my purse. Why? Do you need some?” Julie asked.
“No, you’re going to need some. Take it now.” He advised and opened the door.
“You said one day, Joshua, now you say two. Maybe we should just move out to this frozen
tundra.” Mandy was shouting.
“That would be great! I just assumed you wouldn’t want to with the new house you just bought.”
Josh smirked and Mandy swatted at his head with one of her files, but he ducked.
“We need ideas that don’t have anything to do with the teachers’ union, Mandy.” Billy
explained…again.
“They’re kind of the staple of Democratic fundraising FRED.” She was pissed. She only called Billy
Fred when she was pissed.
“Oh, no, AMANDA!” Billy mocked back, purposefully mistaking her given name. “Does that mean
we’ll have to be, gasp, creative in some way?”
“Josh will you please put a muzzle on your pup, here.”
“Enough!” Peter announced and silence descended. “Let’s take a break in between rounds to
introduce me to our candidate.”
“Julie Peterson, I’m running for Congress.” Julie stepped forward and took Peter’s outstretched
hand. “Sorry, it just comes out automatically now. You must be Peter Torrance.”
“It’s nice to meet you. The woman with the smoke coming out of her ears over there, is my wife
Mandy.” Mandy rolled her eyes but walked forward and also shook Julie’s hand.
“The smoke is all for Josh, I assure you. He is a prize winning egotistical ass.”
“I’ll remember that.” Julie said seriously and pulled the Motrin out of her purse to quickly swallow a
couple. She sat down and mentally ran through the names of all the people in the room.
“She’s just never gotten over the fact that I dumped her after President Bartlet took office.” Josh
kicked back in his chair.
“I dumped you, jackass.” Mandy shot back. If either Donna or Peter were bothered by this topic it
didn’t show. So Julie took it in stride. “After you started dating Sara Wessing-slut.”
“As fascinating as this trip through ancient history is, perhaps we could table it until we’ve covered
the fundraising options?” Billy suggested. “Alan put together a powerpoint with the demographics
we’re trying to hit and the groups the DFL has traditionally tapped. Since we’re not flying with the
DFL on this one, we’re going to need to expand our horizons.”
Peter opened his laptop and the powerpoint showed on the opposite wall. Mandy took over the
narrative from there. She covered Julie’s background, Julie’s parent’s background, and a brief
history of the district. Next came some unconventional fundraising proposals and that’s where the
wheels came off the wagon.
The conversation bandied back and forth so fast, Julie’s head spun. Numbers, names, and
locations were thrown out by everyone at once. Donna seemed to be taking some kind of notes,
but Julie wasn’t sure how she could possibly write everything down. Josh directed most of the
conversation but there were side conversations going on constantly.
“What do you think, Julie?” Brian asked at one point.
“I think you’re all nuts and you’re giving me a migraine.” She blurted out the first thing that came to
her.
“Get used to that feeling.” Peter muttered to her in an aside.
“I think it’s got great potential.” Donna said as she leaned back in her chair and spun around once.
“She’s not a traditional candidate, she doesn’t have traditional backers, she doesn’t have the
usual DFL supporters. It’s much easier to use that than fight it.”
“As usual, my brilliant wife agrees with the creative solution I’ve come up with.”
“It was MY idea.” Billy protested.
“Yes, but I taught you everything you know, so indirectly it was my idea.” Josh figured.
“Egotistical jackass.” Mandy stated again.
“Faithless wench.” Josh responded.
“Food has arrived.” Jenny called out after she let the children in.
“It smells amazing!” Mandy noted.
“It is amazing.” Holly told her. “It’s from a place called Cosetta’s Italian Market. Donna always finds
primo Italian food on the road. I’ve been eating there every day. I’ll be twenty pounds heavier by
the primary.”
“Plus I hear the camera adds ten pounds.” Billy chimed in.
“Shut up!” Holly elbowed him.
Josh sat down next to Julie and Ben took the spot on the other side of her.
“I hate fundraising.” Josh muttered and took a bite of the pasta.
“You’re in a bad line of work then.” Julie retorted.
“Nah-uh.” Josh disagreed. “It’s just a necessary evil.”
“Like Republicans?” Ben asked.
“Exactly like Republicans.” Josh toasted his son with a root beer. “The good guys need an evil
nemesis to fight. What would Superman be without Lex Luther? Or Batman without the Joker?”
“Do you ever worry about the money you’re going to have to spend on therapy to un-warp the
minds of your children?” Julie asked and Josh spit out some of his drink.
“Dad! That’s so gross.” Ben rolled his eyes. “Mom says he has the manners of a goat.”
“Luckily for your dad, your mom adores him.” Julie replied.
“I know. They’re always kissing and stuff.” Ben said in an undertone.
“Give it a few years.” Julie advised. “You might learn to appreciate the kissing.”
“I’ve kissed a girl before.” Ben bragged.
“Excuse me?” Josh said incredulously. “You better be talking about your mother or one of your
sisters, kiddo.”
Ben gave one more eye roll but wisely said nothing. Josh chose to address Julie instead of
pursuing that line of conversation.
“I know you’re getting a lot of information thrown at you. Keep thinking ‘big picture’ and let us
handle the details…Speaking of which, Billy set up your Ed MN meeting and he’s going to prep you
and go with you.”
“You’re not going to come?” Julie asked.
“No, we’ll be back in D.C. by then, but even if we were still here, you wouldn’t want me at that
meeting. I’m not real popular with the teachers.” Josh admitted. “Mandy and Peter will work out the
bumps on the fundraising scene. I’ll make sure you get CC’d on the final arrangements.”
“Thanks, and thanks for taking the time to come out here this weekend.” Julie said sincerely,
looking at both Josh and Ben.
“We wouldn’t miss it, would we Dad?” Ben answered for them.
“Miss a chance to see ‘red ice’ at a professional hockey game? Who’d even think of missing that?”
Josh teased.
“The blood on the ice was really cool; wait ‘til I tell my friends.” Ben agreed.
“I meant, thank you for coming to the announcement.” Julie pretended to be angry with their
misinterpretation.
“Ben, grab me another helping of pasta, will you?” Josh asked his son and handed Ben the plate.
Once he was out of ear shot, he spoke to Julie again.
“Taylor and the D triple C are going to be gunning for you. They want to knock you out early to
eliminate a serious challenge to the nomination, and they wouldn’t mind using the opportunity to
get a little payback on me. There was an editorial in the paper today and more will follow along with
a media buy that’s going to try to make us look like the Beltway Boys invading the good ‘ole
midwest with our evil, conniving ways. Don’t respond to it.”
“At all?” Julie confirmed.
“If it reaches critical mass Billy will give you something to punch back with. Unless and until that
occurs, you stay above the fray, no matter what they sling at you. Got it?”
“You make this sound like so much fun, Josh.” Julie said sarcastically. “Yes, I’ve got it.”
“Here, Dad.” Ben handed him the plate of pasta.
“Thanks, kiddo.” Josh took the plate and pulled out the chair next to him, but Ben walked around
him to sit next to Julie. Josh waited to see how Julie would respond.
“I felt pretty bad about upsetting Tori last night.” Julie admitted.
“That happens with her sometimes.” Ben replied. “She didn’t mean it. About hating hockey, I mean.
She really loves the hockey book Dad got her.”
“I’m glad.” Julie said honestly. “Is it hard for you when Tori…”
“Has a meltdown?” Ben supplied.
“Yes, when she has a meltdown.” Julie smiled.
“It’s just always been like that with her.” Ben thought it over. “Everybody thought it was so cute how
she would say strange things and remember everything, but then she’d have a meltdown and
nobody knew what was wrong or what to do.”
“I would think that would be scary.” Julie offered.
“I thought she was just being a baby and making a scene about nothing. I kind of felt bad later
when we found out she couldn’t help it because of the autism.”
Josh did a double take at this new information about Ben’s state of mind, but remained silent.
“It’s tough being the oldest.” Julie told him. “It’s a lot of responsibility. I have a younger brother and
sister and they were a lot of work.”
“I like it though.” Ben replied. “I get to do everything first and sometimes Mom or Dad will let me do
things with them alone cause I’m the oldest and everyone else is too little.”
“There is that.” Julie agreed. “Can I ask you something Ben?”
“I guess so.” Ben agreed with some hesitancy.
“What interests you so much about politics?” she asked seriously. “Obviously your whole family
gets involved, but your interest seems to be much more than that.”
Ben shot a quick look at his Dad, but Josh kept his face neutral, as he was interested in his son’s
unvarnished answer. Ben leaned a little closer to Julie.
“You know how it felt when the Wild scored at the very end of the game?”
“Yes…”
“That’s how it feels in our office all the time.” Ben explained simply.
Julie thought the ‘our office’ phrase said it all. Ben felt completely included by the team.
“When did you start working on the team?” Julie continued.
Ben pursed his lips and thought about the right answer. “After Uncle Sam got elected Governor,
Mom and Dad started working on other campaigns. More and more people kept coming to work
with us and now we have two offices.”
“So if Governor Seaborn was elected 6 years ago, that would mean you were 4. Are you trying to
tell me you worked on campaigns when you were four, Benjamin Lyman?” Julie teased.
“We even have pictures.” Ben replied. “Dad took me door knocking with him and taught me the
rules and stuff.”
“What kind of rules?”
“Like, you never put campaign stuff in a mail box cause it’s illegal…Don’t go to a house that has
Republican signs in the lawn…Always ask the voters what’s important to them; don’t tell them what
should be important to them.” Ben summarized a few points and Julie could see Josh beaming with
pride.
“I think the Lyman team is very lucky to have you.” Julie told him. “I’m sure glad you’re on my team.”
“Okay, kiddo, time for you to get going. Jenny’s packing everyone up.” Josh directed.
“Aren’t you coming too?” Ben asked.
“I’ll be right behind you. I just have a couple more things to run by Mandy and Peter.” Josh
promised and Ben nodded.
“Goodnight, Julie.” Ben said with a small smile.
“Goodnight, Ben.” Julie responded.
“Ms. Peterson.” Brian came up behind her. “You need to get some sleep too. Tomorrow we leave
the comfort and convenience of St. Paul to head out into the frozen wasteland of Rochester
Minnesota to open our office there.”
“Rochester is a big city, Brian.” Julie corrected him.
“Rochester New York is a big city, Julie. Rochester Minnesota is a small city carved out of the ice
that makes up southern Minnesota in the winter.”
“You’re hilarious. Be sure to mention that when we’re there; use that exact phrase and you’ll get
snowballs thrown at your head.” Julie warned. “And the first shot will come from me…oh and make
sure you have your GPS or I’m not stepping foot in a car with you.” She threw over her shoulder as
she left.
Brian couldn’t help thinking that Julie had spunk and a great sense of humor. He fervently hoped it
wouldn’t be extinguished by the time this campaign was over.
**************************************************************************
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“Let’s go over this one more time.” Josh suggested via the conference call.
“Dear God, let’s not.” Replied Laura Denning, Julie’s main speech writer.
“We can still tweak it.” Billy noted.
“It’s fine. It’s great. We’ve been over this a million times.” Laura complained. “We all agreed it was
fine. We’re using Julie’s ideas and her voice. Just. Leave it. Alone.”
“I’m not sure, but I think Laura is against any further re-writes.” Billy teased and heard Laura groan
through the speakerphone.
“So am I.” Julie offered. “This started out as putting together my thoughts in the most diplomatic
way possible and suddenly it’s a speech. I don’t want to give a speech. I want to have a
conversation.”
Brian, sitting next to Julie, could see her already considerable tension over meeting with
representatives of the teacher’s union mounting the longer the call went on and decided to
intervene.
“Besides, we need to get going. We don’t want to be late to this thing.” Brian stated.
“You’ve got an hour and you’re like, 20 minutes away.” Billy protested.
“Yeah, but you’ve got to factor in enough time for me to get lost on the first pass through.” Brian
poked fun at himself and everyone chuckled.
Josh, seeming to get the hint, closed the conversation. “Do good, Julie. I want a call as soon as
you’re done.”
“Yes, sir.” Julie agreed and ended the call. Then she turned to Brian. “Thank you, thank you,
thank you. I don’t think I could take another minute. How can I ever repay you for saving me from
that call?”
“You can join me for dinner when we’re done with this thing.” Brian replied.
Julie laughed. “We always have dinner, Brian. Is the cold weather getting to you?”
“We have dinner and discuss the campaign. We eat together as business colleagues. Tonight, I’d
just like to have dinner with a beautiful, intelligent woman with no talk about campaigns, polling
data, or speeches.” Brian said in a rush, nervous about how Julie would respond to his request.
“Alright.” Julie agreed hesitantly. “I do owe you after all…and I think I’d like a relaxing dinner with
an interesting man.”
“You forgot handsome.” Brian prodded.
“No, I didn’t.” Julie teased. “Where the GPS?”
“Oh, come on Julie!” Brian complained. “I’m really not that bad with the directions.”
Julie just stood there tapping her foot and looking at her watch.
“Fine.” Brian pulled it out of his briefcase and showed it to her. “Happy now?”
“Immeasurably, let’s get this over with.” Julie headed out the door with Brian at her side.
*********************
“Thank you all so much for meeting with me today.” Julie began and introduced herself to each of
the 10 members of the executive committee from Education Minnesota. “I’m so glad to have the
opportunity to discuss my ideas about curriculum in Minnesota.”
“We understand your ideas, Ms. Peterson. What we don’t understand is how you could possibly
think we’d get behind it.” Marge Christianson, the committee President said snidely.
“Of course you understand the ideas.” Julie kept her cool. “I’m not here to explain them to you.
Teachers who are in the classroom every day surely understand the problems with the current
curriculum and the assessment tools that are used better than I do…What I was hoping, was that
we could open up a dialogue so I could understand what your concerns were about my proposals.”
“I’m not sure I even know where to begin.” Marge replied.
“Then let’s start with curriculum.” Julie suggested. “As you’ve read, I’m basing my education plan
on the Reggio Emilia model.”
“Which was created in the town of Reggio Emilia…in Italy. We’re not in Italy Ms. Peterson.” Another
member pointed out.
“Julie.” Julie corrected. “And I’m very aware we’re not in Italy. However, this approach has been
adopted all over the world with great success. We would need to make some adaptations, but the
general curriculum would be an incredible opportunity for our children.”
“So you’re going to ask all our teachers to develop a new curriculum from scratch, and assess the
students on that curriculum.” Marge summarized. “That’s an awful lot of work to expect from our
teachers who are already overworked and underpaid.”
“It’s really not.” Julie disagreed. “Once it is implemented, it is actually less paperwork than you’re
expected to deal with now. And the assessment is part and parcel of the curriculum. Could
I…would you mind if I pulled out some examples from teachers who work at Reggio Emilia schools?”
Without waiting for permission, Julie reached into the briefcase she’d brought with her and began
speaking passionately about what she’d learned about this educational model and she envisioned
it working in Minnesota.
Brian sat quietly to the side and watched the interaction. She was certainly playing to hostile
audience, but you’d never know it from her demeanor. Her enthusiasm was contagious. She may
not have made any converts that first meeting, but she did get them to stop and consider another
alternative.
For someone who had spent the better part of an afternoon with people who didn’t like her or her
ideas, Julie was quite pumped. She and Brian had their non-work dinner and enjoyed every minute
of it. Brian was still thinking about the great evening when he opened his hotel room door the next
morning and perused the local newspaper. Shit. It started.