Chapter 15
“It’s over, isn’t it Donna?” Nora asked.
“Unless you want to reconsider being Tillman’s VP candidate.” Donna replied.
“Not in the least bit tempted to do that, no.”
“Then this is the time you hit the floor and when the roll call gets to Illinois, you request that the
nomination go to Tillman by acclamation. It’s the classy thing to do.”
“Since he’s already got the votes now?”
“Yes.” Donna agreed. “I’m sorry, Senator. We did everything we could.”
“Don’t apologize, Donna. This is a lot farther than I ever dreamed we’d get and I have every intention
of getting even farther next time with your help.”
Donna smiled. “I’d be honored, Senator.”
“When do I need to get down there?”
“Sarah will give you ten minutes lead time.” Donna explained. “I’ll call Tillman’s convention office and
let them know the plan.”
A few minutes later, Donna was on the phone with the Governor himself.
“I’d like her to reconsider the position of my running mate.” Tillman requested.
“Thank you sir, but we discussed it at length and the Senator doesn’t feel that would be in the best
interest of the party. She wanted me to assure you that she would campaign vigorously for your ticket
in the fall and to let you know that you could count on carrying Illinois.”
“Please thank the Senator for me.” Tillman replied. “I appreciate her moving to nominate by
acclamation.”
“I’ll pass that on, Governor.”
“How is your son doing, Donna?”
Donna scoffed. “Your concern is touching Governor. He’ll be home from the hospital tomorrow.” She
knew very well how he tried to use their son’s accident to his advantage thanks to Billy.
The Governor seemed to pick up on her sarcasm. “I’m glad to hear that. I’m sorry that it became part
of this whole story.”
“I sincerely doubt that, Governor.” Donna said honestly. “Good luck to you, sir.” Donna hung up
before she said something she might regret later to the man who might be the next President of the
United States.
She was home with her family by Thursday night when Tillman was giving his acceptance speech.
“This sucks.” Tori announced. “Senator Donnelly is supposed to be doing that.”
“I’m glad it’s Tillman.” Ally countered. “I want to vote for the first woman President so she’s got to wait
another four years.”
“That’s pretty selfish,” Ben opined. “You wish Tillman on all of us so you can vote for the first woman
President?”
“I didn’t WISH for it.” Ally disputed. “I’m just saying I’m glad it turned out this way for now. He’ll never
win without Fred helping him and then Nora can win in four years.”
“That’s loyalty, Ally Cat.” Billy smiled gratefully at the young girl. The Fernandez family had joined the
Lyman family to watch the last night of the convention.
“LCC is without a Presidential client now.” Josh pointed out.
“It’ll give us more time to concentrate on the down ticket races.” Billy shrugged. “I’d rather lose a client
than help the wrong one win.”
Josh understood what Billy was saying.
“We could use some help on the down ticket races.” Billy mentioned casually as he picked up another
piece of pizza.
“I’m not sure about that.” Josh answered.
“I was talking to Ben.” Billy deadpanned and had the whole group laughing.
“I could use a job.” Ben agreed immediately. “But you’d have to hire Mom and Dad too. We’re a
package deal.”
“Yeah, I guess you are.” Billy acknowledged. “What about you, Ally Cat? Care to come on board
LCC?”
“I’m a little busy with school.” Ally shook her head sadly.
“I guess it’s up to you, Victoria Helen. You could be my number cruncher.” Billy gave it one more shot.
“How much does it pay?” Tori asked.
“I’ll have my people call your people to negotiate.”
“I have people?” Tori asked her mother.
“I’m your people.” Donna replied. “I’ll take care of it.”
“She’s going to take care of it.” Tori jerked a thumb at Donna.
“Shhh…there he is.” Josh shushed them as Tillman took the podium. Despite the Senator’s personal
plea for party unity, the convention didn’t quite look fired up for the Tillman ticket. He chose,
Davidson, a junior Senator from Virginia as his running mate. Josh had his doubts about his
readiness. Apparently, so did the convention.
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“I realize I made a unilateral decision about Tillman. I apologize for that.” Billy noted on the LCC
conference call. “Given the circumstances, I didn’t see any other choice.”
“I doubt you’re going to find any disagreement here.” Toby replied. Toby had flown in to check on Ben
for himself and was at the East Coast office for the time being. “We have plenty of down ticket races
to focus on, although you should know that we’ve had several pissy phone calls from the DNC over
this.”
“Screw the DNC.” Mandy made her presence known. “They need us way more than we need them.
They’re going to want to tie into our voter turnout at the very least.”
“Then we’re all agreed on this matter?” Billy asked pro forma, and hearing no objection, when on to
his next order of business. “I’d like to talk to you about an item I left off the agenda…”
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“I’m okay, Mom.” Ben insisted.
“I’m just checking on you.”
“Yeah, every five minutes.” Ben rolled his eyes.
“It’s time for Ben’s medicine.” Tori announced from the doorway. She was keeping a close eye on her
brother since he’d been released from the hospital.
“I’ll get it.” Donna assured her. Tori supervised the medication and then ‘tucked’ her older brother in
for the night making sure his intercom was within reach.
Soon, it was Donna getting ready for bed. Josh was watching the news coverage of the convention; all
the postmortems while Donna listened with half an ear. There was a lot of speculation about LCC and
Tillman parting company but both sides maintained it was just a switch from the primary battle to the
general election with LCC being overloaded with clients. Nobody bought that line though.
“Is the DNC going to give Billy a hard time about dropping Tillman?”
“Not since Bruno has stepped up to take the reins; talk about a match made in heaven.” Josh noted
and turned off the TV. “I need to talk to you about something.”
“Okay.” Donna said with trepidation. “What is it?”
“I got an interesting call today; about a job offer.”
“You can’t go back to LCC, Josh. It’s too hard on your health.” Donna jumped in without waiting for
him to finish.
“It’s not from LCC.” Josh chuckled. “I think this whole thing has proven that my days running a
campaign are over.”
“I’m ready to be done too.” Donna admitted quietly.
“Funny that you should say that because the offer included you.” Josh teased and turned out the light.
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“He’s only six points down.” Billy shared. “He could still pull it out.”
“Sure.” Josh conceded with a smirk. He had very mixed feelings about the election. He didn’t want to
see a Republican in the White House, but he didn’t want to see Tillman there either. “Who knows what
Bruno has up his sleeve yet?”
“I meant what I said the other day. If you want to get your hand back in, we could use you; in whatever
capacity you’d like.”
Josh had to admit to the temptation; admitting you had a problem was the first step, right?
“If the job wouldn’t kill me, Donna would; but thanks.” He said sincerely. “I’ve got another choice in
mind.”
“Care to share with the class?”
“I’ve got an offer to do a once a week news program.” Josh shared. “The offer includes Donna. The
family took a vote last night and it looks like it will be the new Lyman family enterprise.”
“No.” Billy shook his head in disbelief. “Who is going to put you on air and risk the legal liability? The
possibility of slander alone…”
“Thanks, pal.” Josh chuckled. “I can handle myself in front of the camera.”
“Maybe, MAYBE, spinning for a candidate…for a very short period of time…when Donna writes out
note cards for you…”
“Hey!” Josh objected.
“But a full hour? Letting you loose on political figures?” Billy shook his head and laughed. “I can’t
WAIT to see that.”
“Donna can’t either.” Josh acknowledged. “It will be an adventure.”
“How’s Ben doing?”
“He’s anxious to get the cast off.” Josh shrugged. He was all about Ben taking things slow; Ben
though? Not so much.
“Can’t imagine where that impatience comes from.”
“He comes by it honestly enough.”
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Epilogue
“Welcome to our special Inaugural edition of ‘Talking Points’.” Josh announced. “When MSNBC
approached us about this venture, my wife and I decided that we’d start the new show to coincide with
the start of a new administration. The timing seemed apt. Now as the polls close across the country
and we’re about to elect a new President we invite you to join us as we discuss the prevalent issues
with the newsmakers of the day.”
Josh paused and looked past the camera to where his wife/producer was seated.
“When we return, we’ll speak to former President Santos who will give us his unique perspective on a
Presidential election night. We’ll be right back after these messages.” Josh concluded.
“And we’re out. Back in 2.” The segment director announced.
“That’s quite the ‘get’ Donnatella.” Josh teased her from his not yet comfortable anchor desk.
“I’ve got connections, Joshua.” She replied and pretended to adjust his tie. “Try to maintain at least
the appearance of objectivity.”
“Why?” Josh quipped back and Donna just shook her head in amusement. It WAS one of the perks of
this type of format. Josh could let loose on guests from either side of the aisle; and Donna was sure
he would. The always present risk of fireworks was part of the appeal to the network…and, they
hoped, the audience.
“Alright then; have fun.” Donna kissed him briefly. She quickly looked over at where the Lyman
children were all sitting quietly watching the show from the production booth behind her. The kids had
all embraced this idea with enthusiasm and were there to show their support. Jake gave her a thumbs
up and Ally smiled huge. Ben seemed distracted by the business of producing a TV show and Ally was
enthralled with numbers and buttons everywhere.
“We have quite the studio audience, don’t we?” Josh noticed where her attention had wandered to.
“The best.” Donna agreed. “Are you still okay with this?”
“I have a choice at this point?” Josh chuckled.
“I meant, being on camera here, instead of with the gang over there.” She nodded to a nearby screen
that showed some of the LCC gang waiting for their turn on Talking Points. Josh took his time
answering.
“It’s different…but it feels good. After all, it’s just another choice.” He assured her.
“30 seconds Josh.” The director called out.
“A very good choice.” Donna agreed and left him to try his hand at something new…again.
The End.