Chapter 5
“Remember, this is your introduction to the people of your district.” Billy was reminding
Julie. “As a woman you have to walk a fine line between being tough enough for the job
and-“
“You told her this before. And I told you before it’s bullshit.” Holly weighed in.
“It’s reality, Holly.” Brian added his two cents.
“I’m not saying it’s not reality, I’m saying it’s bullshit that it’s reality.”
“Try not to use that exact terminology in front of the press, okay, Holl?” Billy suggested.
“Shut up!” Julie couldn’t take it anymore. “Where are my notes? I need to look at my
notes again. Someone remind me why I can’t take my notes with me. I see candidates
read from notes or prompters all the time!”
Brian, Billy and Holly all exchanged worried glances.
“Give Julie and me the room a minute, okay?” Brian suggested. Billy and Holly let without
another word.
Julie, who had found her note cards (she’d learned at Donna’s knee on that score), was
flipping through them like she was shuffling a deck of playing cards.
“Julie…” Brian spoke her name quietly but got no response. “Julie!” This time he
coupled a louder voice with taking her cards away. “Breathe…”
“Breathe?” Julie repeated incredulously. “I’m about to go out there in front of friends,
neighbors and press and make a complete ASS out of myself and you tell me to
breathe? What the hell kind of Goddamn campaign manager are you?”
Brian burst out laughing.
“Why are you laughing at me?” Julie demanded incensed with him.
“I don’t think I’ve ever heard you swear before. You’ve got this Sunday school look and
you’re always so prim and proper and then you spit out a mouthful like that; it made me
laugh.” Brian sobered a bit. “You’re going to be great, I promise.”
“I’m bout to make the biggest mistake of my life.” She refuted.
“No, you’re not.” Brian countered. “And my advise before was very helpful so listen to
me and breathe.”
Julie did as he instructed and took several deep breaths.
“Nerves are natural, a certain amount of nervousness is even good for you; it gets you
revved.”
“But-“
“Listen and keep breathing.” Brian refused to let her cut in. “You’re right. These are
your friends and neighbors. A lot of the people out there already know and love you.
The rest of them will fall quickly under your spell once they’ve seen and heard you.”
“Do you talk to your male candidates this way?” Julie asked.
“No way! I have Holly give the guys this speech.” Brian joked. Julie’s lips twitched which
he took as a good sign so he continued. “Remember this; our team had choices about
who we would run in this race. We didn’t have to run anybody, but we chose you. That’s
no small endorsement.”
“Anything else, sir?” Julie asked smiling.
“Not really, but I’d like you to keep using that ‘sir’ thing.” Brian stated.
“Not a chance.” She replied and opened the door to admit Holly and Billy. “I’m ready.”
She told them and walked out the door.
“She’s ready.” Brian repeated and followed her out.
****************************
“Slow down, Ben.” Donna called from behind him.
“You speed up! We’re going to be late.”
“Excuse me?” Donna pulled her son to a stop.
“I mean, will you please hurry up? I really don’t want to miss it.” Ben altered his reply.
“We won’t miss it. Billy is talking to Dad right now. They’re still doing introductions.”
Donna told him.
Ben looked back at where his Dad and his sisters were bringing up the rear. “Why do
they have GOP candidates and DFL candidates in Minnesota?”
“Because they have some misguided notions about traditions here.” Josh answered as
he flipped his cell phone shut. When he caught his wife’s look he revised his answer.
She was right; he should be careful what he said in this crowd. He hated it when she was
right. “The Democratic party here formed an alliance with the Farmer/Labor groups, so
they incorporated that as part of their name; the Democratic Farmer Labor party…D.F.
L.”
“Then what does G.O.P. stand for?” Ally asked.
“Goofballs On Parade.” Josh answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Gallant Old Party.” Donna corrected.
“Because they have a strong history with parties?” Ally asked in confusion.
“It’s a very old title. It started in the late 1800’s when-.” Donna started to explain.
“There they are.” Josh interrupted.
“Senator Stackhouse looks really good, Josh.” Donna noted.
The Senator had just been introduced and was enjoying a wave of applause as he
approached the podium to introduce Julie Peterson. Josh knew the man had endured a
battle royal with the DFL committee over his appearance here today. They were more
than a little miffed he wasn’t throwing his support behind the candidate they had
recruited. He really was, as President Bartlet ad once called him, a ‘cranky old son of a
bitch’.
The Lyman’s watched and listened as the Senator gave an enthusiastic introduction of
Julie; both professionally and personally, then she took the podium.
“Poised, professional, and likable.” Josh judged her performance so far.
“She’s great.” Ben agreed.
Josh and Donna shared a look over Ben’s head. Josh shrugged his shoulders in the
universal male gesture for ‘what do you want from me’. Donna rolled her eyes back at
him in the universal female gesture for ‘never mind, I’ll take care of it myself’.
Billy and Brian joined them at that point; Billy giving high fives to Ally and Ben; Billy
learned long ago Tori didn’t like them. Tori was busy reading a book about Minnesota.
“She’s doing fine. I told you yesterday you didn’t have to come out here.” Billy told them.
“I’m not worried about Julie. I’m worried about setting the unholy trinity here loose without
supervision.” Josh replied.
“Hey!” Brian protested.
“No, no. He’s right.” Billy put an arm around Josh. “Clearly there is a desperate need for
another team member out here in Siberia…Perhaps someone with experience in media
markets?” Billy suggested.
“I’m not sending Jenny out here. She’s your wife, but she works for me and I need her in
Ohio right now.” Josh stated plainly.
“But I need her here.” Billy countered.
“Sorry, Fred.” Josh smirked.
“I’m trying to listen!” Ben snapped at them and the men shared an amused look.
The short speech concluded to warm applause and the Senator took Julie around the
room to make personal introductions. Josh made his way slowly over to the Senator.
“Joshua. I didn’t expect to see you here.” Senator Stackhouse proclaimed.
“Donna wanted to come. I always do what Donna wants.” Josh explained.
“At least you’ve learned that much.” The Senator groused. “Donnatella! You get more
beautiful every day!”
“I see you haven’t lost your gift for hyperbole, Senator.” Donna replied, kissing the older
man on the cheek.
“It’s all true, I swear. And I hear I have you to thank for the Lyman consulting team taking
on Julie as a client.”
“No, sir. I just made an appointment for her to interview. Josh and Ben sealed that deal.”
Donna told him.
Stackhouse turned to Ben. “What clinched it for you, young Benjamin?”
Ben thought for a minute before he replied. “She paid attention to me and answered my
questions even though I’m a kid. I think candidates should listen to everybody and she
does.”
“You’re going to make a fine political operative someday and be a credit to your
mother.” Stackhouse predicted and made Josh groan. The Senator, for reasons that
passed Josh’s understanding, loved to give him a hard time. “Can I have a private word
with you, Joshua?”
“Certainly, Senator.” Josh took a short walk away from the others.
“She’s going to have a hard time getting the endorsement, let alone winning the
election, without the support of Education Minnesota.” Stackhouse noted.
“The general isn’t what concerns me, sir. The teachers aren’t going to back a
Republican in the general. It’s the primary that’s going to be tough. How deeply
entrenched is she on her education policy?”
“Center of the earth deep.” Stackhouse grimaced. “She won’t change her position
either, and I have to say I admire her for that.”
“So do I, but none of her proposals are going to come to fruition if she doesn’t win in the
primary. Maybe we can tone things down until after that?”
“You’ll figure it out.” Stackhouse assured him. “Is that Tori? She’s gotten so big!” The
Senator walked right over to the girl, still perusing her book about Minnesota.
“Hello, Victoria Helen. How are you?” Stackhouse asked crouching down so they were at
eye level, but Tori didn’t raise her eyes from her book.
“Your speech was too long, Senator. Daddy said a good introduction should be less
than 5 minutes. Yours was 7 minutes and 43 seconds.” Tori responded.
“I’ll try to shorten it up for next time, Tori. What are you learning about my state from that
book?” Stackhouse tried another subject.
“The name ‘Minnesota’ comes from the Dakota version of that word. It means ‘sky tinted
waters’. There are more theaters per capita here than in New York City. Your state bird
is the common loon. I don’t think a state should have the word ‘loon’ anywhere near it. It
just doesn’t sound right.” Tori replied matter of factly.
“That’s a very good point.” Stackhouse agreed. “I’ll see what I can do about that. How
are you Miss Allison?”
“Fine.” Ally said shyly. “We’re going to the Mall of America while we’re here.”
“You’ll have a lot of fun there. All my grandchildren loved it.” Stackhouse stood back up
to his full height and offered Ben a man-to-man. “You’ve got a good eye, young man.
Keep up the good work.”
“Yes, sir.” Ben replied.
“Donna, lovely as always.” Stackhouse kissed her cheek again. “Joshua…work it out.”
“Uh…yes, sir.” Josh muttered as the Senator walked away from them.
“Yeah, Joshua, work it out.” Donna teased.
“Very funny; a barrel of laughs.” Josh retorted.
“Daddy, there aren’t any barrels here.” Tori reported, still engaged in her book.
“Thanks kiddo. Let’s go check in with the candidate.” Josh suggested.
Ben didn’t need to be told twice. He was off in a straight beeline to Julie.
“Julie! We heard your speech. You were great!”
“Thanks Ben.” Julie smiled and took another swig of the bottled water Brian had brought
her. “Can I tell you a secret?” she leaned down closer to Ben. “I was SO nervous.”
“We couldn’t even tell. Could we Dad?”
“She was a pro.” Josh agreed. “Anything left in your stomach, Ms. Peterson?”
“No.” Julie answered succinctly. “Hi Ally, hi Tori. Hey Tori, I remembered what you told
me. I’m only drinking water in front of the voters.”
“We don’t drink alcohol in front of the voters.” Tori sing-songed.
“Right.” Julie nodded. “Oh, wait here. I have someone I want you all to meet.” Julie got
stopped several times on her way back to them by people wishing her well or wanting to
discuss their pet issue with her. After several failed attempts she finally returned with an
older gentleman in tow.
“This is my father, Henry Peterson. Dad, I’d like you to meet the Lyman Family.” She
began. “This is Josh Lyman, his lovely wife and partner Donna, and three of their four
children; Ben, Ally, and Tori.”
“Very nice to meet you. Julie’s told me all about you.” Henry shook hands with the adults
and nodded to the children.
“Henry is the 95th most popular boy’s name this year.” Tori told him.
“You don’t say…” Henry sputtered out.
“You must be very proud of your daughter, Mr. Peterson.” Donna interrupted smoothly.
“I am, but then I’ve always been proud of her. She’s an exceptional woman. And please,
call me Hank.” Julie’s dad smiled. “I hear this young man is the one responsible for all
this.”
Ben turned slightly red. “She was the best candidate we talked to, but it was a team
decision. We always have team decisions.”
“Well I think that’s a very good policy.” Hank concurred. “I just wish her mother could see
her now.”
“Julie told us you lost your wife to ovarian cancer recently. I’m so sorry.” Josh told him.
“My father lost his battle with cancer a long time ago, but I still miss him terribly;
especially now with the kids.”
“Kids bring a whole new perspective to a lot of things. Don’t they Mr. Lyman?”
“They do indeed. But it’s Josh, Hank. We’re going to be seeing a lot of each other in the
coming months so let’s start off on the right foot.”
“Excuse me for interrupting, but I need the candidate for a minute.” Billy told them.
“That’s you, girl. I’m going to head out myself anyway.” Hank replied.
“Okay, thanks for coming all this way, Dad.” Julie kissed her father.
“Wouldn’t have missed it.” Hank replied. Once Julie was led off to meet some potential
campaign donors, Hank leaned close to Josh. “Man to man, Josh, you’re going to take
good care of my girl, right?”
“Like she was one of my own; my word of honor.” Josh promised.
“I know politics can be a dirty business, but I don’t want any dirt on Julie.” Hank
hesitated. “I looked you up on the internet when she told me she was going out to see
you. Lots of people in Washington had a lot of different opinions about you. But then I
read your book; the one you wrote with your wife? That told me all I needed to know.
You and your people like to win, but you know where to draw the line.”
“I like to think so, Hank. This is our business card. If you ever have any concerns or
questions, you call us.” Josh concluded.
“Thank you very much. You enjoy your stay here. Minnesota is a wonderful place for
families.” Hank waved goodbye.
“That was a very nice touch, Josh.” Donna complimented him.
“I’m a very nice guy, Donna. I keep telling you that.”
“Yes, you do.” She laughed. “Why don’t I take the kids back to the hotel so you can
debrief your crew?”
“You just can’t wait another minute to get to the waterpark can you?” Josh teased. They
were staying at the Waterpark of America hotel and the kids had been itching to get into
it since they checked in.
“Yes, that’s right. Because what I love more than anything is putting on a swimsuit in the
dead of winter to get into a body of water that more than likely has been peed in all day.”
“Well, when you put it like that it loses some of the fun.” Josh shot back. “Go ahead. I’ll
have Fred drop me off when we’re done here. I love you, Donnatella.”
“Love you too. Come on Lyman’s! We’ll retrieve your brother and Jenny and hit the
water park.” Donna announced.
“Can I stay with Dad?” Ben requested.
“Instead of going to the waterpark?” Donna asked incredulously.
“I can go tomorrow instead. Please?” Ben shifted his gaze from his father to his mother
and back again.
“It’s fine with me.” Josh concluded.
“Okay, but stay with your Dad.” Donna instructed. “We’re in the middle of downtown
Minneapolis and you can’t wander off by yourself.”
“I know. I know…” Ben said impatiently.
“I’ll see you later then.” Donna kissed her son’s forehead. “And no more pop for you
tonight.”
“Yeah, yeah….” Ben agreed.
“Josh, did you hear me?”
“Yeah, yeah…” he imitated Ben perfectly and made his son laugh. “I got it covered
Donna. Go and freeze in the pee pool.”
Once they were out the door, Josh turned to Ben. “I’m starving, you?”
“Way starving. Why do they always serve this cheese and cracker stuff at these things?”
“Good question. Ask Fred about that. He was in charge of all this.” Josh replied. “Slice of
pizza and mountain dew?”
Ben looked over his Dad’s shoulder to catch a glimpse of Julie.
“She’ll be busy awhile yet. Let’s get some food first.” Josh read his son’s mind.
“Okay.” Ben agreed. Once they got their food and sat down Josh decided to broach the
subject of Julie once more.
“I would have thought you’d be chomping at the bit to get to the waterpark.” Josh
commented.
“We’ve been to waterparks before.” Ben brushed it off.
“Yeah, but this is the Waterpark of America!” Josh enthused. “The largest indoor
waterpark in the United States.”
Ben shrugged. “I can go tomorrow if I want to.”
“True, true. I can’t help wondering though if this isn’t more to do with Julie than the
waterpark.” Josh said lightly.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean I can’t help but notice that you’ve taken a liking to Julie.”
“Da-ad.” Ben whined. “I just think she’s really cool, okay?”
“I think she’s really cool too.” Josh agreed. “When I was your age there was this woman I
really liked. She worked at the library and she was always so nice to me when I came in.
The woman knew EVERYTHING! Any question I asked her, she knew the answer or
knew where to find it. She listened to my questions and my theories and treated me like
an adult.”
“Really?”
“Uh-huh. She made me feel grown up too. I had a pretty big crush on her for awhile. I
would even bring her stuff; treats and books from home.”
“Then what happened?” Ben asked.
“One day, when I went to see her, she introduced me to her husband. She said I was the
little guy she was telling him about and they both laughed. They weren’t being mean,
they just thought it was cute, but I swear she broke my heart. I was embarrassed and
humiliated. I couldn’t walk into the library again for a long time.”
Ben processed this information. “But Julie really likes me.”
“Of course she does. You’re a great kid. Everybody likes you.” Josh assured him. “Julie
is a great woman, too. It’s okay to like her. I think you happen to be showing excellent
taste in women.””
“Da-ad.” Ben whined again. “I’m not a baby.”
“No you’re not, but you’re not a man yet either. You’re in that horribly awkward place in
between. Julie has got a tough campaign ahead of her. I mean, a really tough campaign.
She’ll be concentrating on that right now.”
“At least until she gets the nomination, right?” Ben confirmed.
“Ben…the odds of Julie getting the nomination are…very low.”
“But we’re all here to help her.” Ben protested.
“Yes, and we’ll do all we can to help her, but the odds are against us on this one. I just
want to make sure you understand that.”
“If the odds are so bad, why are we running her campaign?”
“Because you were right; Taylor is a tool and Julie is the real thing.” Josh grinned. “It’s
not all about winning, kiddo. We’ll lose plenty of these things, but we’ll go down fighting
for the right side at least.”
“That doesn’t make sense.” Ben admitted. “If we’re helping the best person, they should
be the one to win.”
“If only that were true.” Josh smirked. “If you’re done we can go meet with our team and
find out the game plan for tomorrow.”
A visibly quieter Ben followed his Dad back to the event.