American Exit Strategy: Book 1 (12 page)

Matt and Karen made some finger foods for themselves to eat while they watched the results. They had celery sticks, chicken wings and spinach dip. Ms. Mae, their cat, jumped up on the couch beside Matt. She also seemed to take interest in the election.... or the chicken wings.

CNC's "DC Live" had been running nonstop since 4:00 pm.  Ed Nolan was still full of energy. He lived for election night. The excitement of the polls sent adrenaline through his veins. Election results would be pouring in until the early morning hours of the next day, and Ed Nolan would be there for the whole thing.

The commercial ended and Ed Nolan announced "It is 7:00 PM Eastern Time and that means 'DC Live' will soon be getting poll results on the most historical presidential election ever. This year, we have three contenders for the oval office. We have had third party candidates in the past, but none that have caused such havoc to the two party system as independent candidate Paul Randall. This evening promises to be eventful, so stay with us throughout the night as we bring you the most accurate results first."

"You can see the numbers coming in county by county for the states whose polls have just closed. CNC is predicting that Paul Randall will take the 8 electoral votes from South Carolina. We are also calling Vermont as we expect it to go to Anthony Howe. Virginia is very close and it may be some time before we are able to project a winner for that state. CNC is also able to project that Georgia will also go to Paul Randall. The current total vote for the Electoral College is Anthony Howe 3 and Paul Randall 24"

"Yeeha!" Karen exclaimed.

"It’s way too early to get excited baby." Matt said with a somber tone.

"You have to be positive, that’s a good start." Karen said. "We haven't had much to get excited about lately, so let me enjoy myself."

"I just don't want you to get disappointed." Matt said with a smile. Karen's optimism was a little infectious; he knew he should sit back and enjoy the show. Matt grabbed a chicken wing and cheered with Karen as CNC projected that Paul Randall would also take Kentucky and Indiana.

Back in Texas, the crowd was jubilant at Paul Randall’s headquarters. The CNC coverage was being played on huge screens, there were balloons being tossed in the air and red, white and blue streamers draped every inch of the hall. Everyone got very quiet as the projections for North Carolina and West Virginia were both given to Paul Randall. The totals came up on the screen and the enthusiastic crowd went wild. The totals were Howe 3, Marcos 0, and Randall 63.

Paul Randall knew it was going to be a long night, but he couldn't help but be encouraged by the totals showing on the screen. Sonny was not as excited as the rest of the crowd. He had been studying the polls for months now.

Very gently, he reminded Paul Randall, "These are the easy ones sir. There will be 172 electoral votes up for grabs in the polls that close at 8:00."

CNC correspondent Amy Stein was at the Governor's mansion in Albany, New York. She had befriended Anthony Howe's wife, Jenna. They had met at several fund raisers and events throughout the campaign. The banquet hall in the mansion was absolutely regal. It had patterned hardwood floors and each wall was flanked by a tremendous fireplace and columns that stretched to the top of the 25 foot ceiling. A grand staircase with marble spires poured into the room like a river. Tables were set up, but most people mingled around the front where the giant screen was setup.

Amy began her coverage "The mood is very vibrant here at the Governor’s Mansion. The champagne is flowing in anticipation of tonight's victory. CNC will be getting the results of the polls that will be closing at 8:00 pm. Anthony Howe expects to make up a lot of ground over the next hour. "

Shortly after 8:00, the results began to roll in. CNC projected Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and the District of Colombia to go to Anthony Howe. Juan Marcos took his first state, Alabama. Paul Randall took Tennessee and Oklahoma. Florida, as usual, would be a close call. It could be hours before a projection could be made for the battleground swing state.

When the totals appeared on the sign, Paul Randall saw what Sonny had been talking about. Howe quickly pulled into the lead with 100 electoral votes. Randall trailed with 81 and Marcos had nine. The night was young, but this was a very bad start for California Congressman, Juan Marcos.

At 9:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time, another huge block of results began to trickle into the news desk. "DC Live" host, Ed Nolan knew the projection would most likely be made after these votes were tallied. Seven more states were projected to go to Paul Randall including his home state of Texas which carried 38 votes alone. Anthony Howe picked up his home state of New York as well as three others. Enough data had come in from Ohio and Florida to predict they would go to Marcos along with Arizona, Louisiana and Wisconsin.

Ed Nolan announced the latest data. "Folks, what we are seeing is the nightmare scenario that the pundits have been talking about for weeks. At this point, Paul Randall has 150 electoral votes. Anthony Howe stands in the lead with 162 votes. Juan Marcos only has 85 votes at the moment but every CNC poll has predicted that he will easily take his home state of California. It is just before 10:00 p.m. here in the East and California's polls won't close for another hour. If, at that time, Marcos does take those votes, he will add those 55 votes from California to the 85 he now holds. That will give him 140 votes.  That is a total of 452 votes taken. That only leaves 86 votes outstanding in the Electoral College. Those 86 votes cannot get any candidate to the required 270 votes in order to win the presidential election through the Electoral College."

Karen looked at Matt with a look of surprise. "So no one is going to win?" she asked.

"It will have to be decided by the House of Representatives." Matt said plainly.

"Who will they pick?" Karen demanded.

"The Republicans have the majority in the house. I don't know. They may decide for whoever wins the popular vote. That would probably be the equitable thing to do. Of course, even if Howe wins the electoral vote, none of the Republicans would ever be reelected if they put him in office.  I would guess they will go with either Paul Randall or Juan Marcos. Marcos is the Republican candidate, but many of the Republicans openly supported Randall all the way through the campaign. I don't know. I suppose we will be up for a while seeing who wins the popular vote. The House won't be meeting tonight. We probably won't know anything until at least tomorrow." Matt predicted.

The rest of the night had a different feel. In the news room at CNC, at the Governor's Mansion, at Randall’s headquarters, and in the Bair's living room, everyone had a sense of a long battle to come. After so many months of campaigns, America wanted closure on this night, but there would be none.

Juan Marcos did, indeed, go on to win his home state. His final tally was 160 votes. Anthony Howe ended the night with 185 votes. Paul Randall won the popular vote and also took the highest amount of electoral votes. He had 193 electoral votes when all the polls had reported.

"I just spoke with the Howe and the Marcos camps. Neither is willing to issue a concession speech at this time." Sonny told Paul.

"I expected that." Paul replied.

"You won the popular vote sir, congratulations." Sonny said.

"Thank you Sonny, you worked very hard to make that happen. Congratulations to you as well. You know I want you on my staff if everything works out. Let me rephrase that, I need you on my staff if everything works out." Paul replied.

"Thank you sir, it is always my pleasure." Sonny said with a smile.

Kimberly Randall hugged her husband, while their twin teenage boys, Robert and Ryan surrounded them with more hugs. Kimberly also grabbed Sonny and pulled him into the group hug. Sonny was too busy for a family, so she did everything she could to make him feel like a part of theirs.

Everyone congratulated Randall on the win. They tried to be sincere, but everyone knew the next day or so would show if the Congress would confirm or deny the will of the people.

CHAPTER 19

“In circumstances dark as these, it becomes us, as Men and Christians, to reflect that, whilst every prudent Measure should be taken to ward off the impending Judgments....All confidence must be withheld from the Means we use; and reposed only on that GOD who rules in the Armies of Heaven, and without whose Blessing the best human Counsels are but Foolishness--and all created Power Vanity;”

- John Hancock

Wednesday morning the U.S. House of Representatives convened at 11:00 a.m.. The democrats were all rested and somber. It was easy to see who belonged to which party. The Republicans looked like a lot of stock brokers who had just come in from an all night bender. They were disheveled and most had razor stubble. None of them had been to sleep yet. They had spent the entire night in complete gridlock over who to elect. Roughly half supported Paul Randall, and the others were determined to vote for Juan Marcos. CSPAN had exclusive coverage rights to the vote, but it was streamed to all the major networks.

It had been a while since all 435 members had met together. This was the big one. No one was absent on this occasion. There were 221 Republicans and 214 Democrats. The consensus on the morning news coverage was that whoever was to be selected, it would not be Howe.

The process granted exactly one vote per state. Each representative would cast their vote for president for their state. The votes of each representative would be tallied for that state and the single vote of each state would go to the winner of the respective state.

Once the voting started, it quickly became evident that the Republicans had not reached a consensus overnight. The votes started to come in much diffused amongst the three candidates. When the vote was over, Marcos held 16 states. Paul Randall had only received 15 of the states.

Anthony Howe held the remainder of the state votes. Anthony Howe was the President Elect of The United States of America by 19 state votes from the United States House of Representatives.

The vote for the Vice President was a separate issue. It went to the Senate. The Senate was controlled by the Democratic Party. There was no division and Howe's running mate, Sidney Hamilton, was elected expeditiously.

As the news was announced in real time, Paul Randall's heart jumped to his throat. His mouth went dry and he felt dizzy. "Breathe.” he thought to himself. "Sit down and breathe" he thought. Paul walked out of the living room of his Texas home and into his office. He sat down on his leather sofa. "Concentrate on breathing, in through the nose, out through the mouth.” he whispered to himself.

The shock had so taken everyone off guard; they did not see Paul walk out of the room. Kimberly was the first to notice he was gone. She came into the office to check on him. She saw his face was white. She went to get him some water and came straight back. "Put your feet up on the couch and drink some water Paul." Kimberly said. He followed her instructions without a word.

Sonny noticed the commotion, but was stuck himself. Sonny walked outside to be alone for a moment. Was he angry? Was he in shock? He was powerless to describe his own emotion. "Unbelievable" Sonny muttered to himself. His mind had been working out strategies for the past year. It was still functioning in the same mode. He tried to think around the problem. Was there a mistake? Was he dreaming? What had just happened?

Sonny looked at his car in the driveway. The notion to just get in and drive overwhelmed him. Where would he go? It didn't matter. The urge to get in and drive until he was too tired to drive any further seemed to compel him towards the vehicle. He got in the BMW and started the engine. "This isn't who I am" Sonny said aloud. He shut the engine off and walked back into the huge farm house.

Sonny walked into Paul's office and said "What are you going to do sir?"

"I don't know Sonny." Paul replied. "The people elected me to the office. The Congress should have honored their wishes."

The phone rang. "Hello." Kimberly answered. "One second, here he is." She passed the phone to Paul and said "General Allen Jefferson."

"Allen." Paul answered as he held the phone to his ear.

"Your orders Sir." Jefferson said sternly."You have my support, whatever you decide to do. I expect there will be many that will fall in behind me as well. The people elected you. There will be a lot of fallout over this."

"I haven't thought that far in advance Allen. I did not see this coming. Give me an hour to think, I will call you back.” Paul replied. 

Meanwhile at the Bair's house in Florida. Karen was crying and Matt was angry. What had just happened? This provision of the law that allowed this decision had not been set up well for this situation. The letter of the law had been followed, but the spirit of the law had been thrown to the wayside.

"What’s going to happen?" Karen sobbed.

"I don't even want to speculate. It will heavily depend on Paul Randall. It will depend on whether he gives a concession speech or calls for a coup. I know he has enough support in the Pentagon to pull it off. This is a very bad situation for our country. It may tear us apart. It may trigger a civil war." Matt stated bluntly. He realized this was not what she wanted to hear, but he could not tell her everything was fine. He simply put his arms around her and pulled her close.

Matt's phone rang "Hey cousin." It was Wesley Bair, the college history professor.