The Reformers: A Matt Blake Novel (The Matt Blake legal thriller series Book 2) (26 page)

Chapter 58

The Republican National Convention was held in late July. Fortunately I had no opposition. I selected Governor Jeremy Grasso of Ohio as my running mate, and the pick was unopposed. Grasso himself had indicated his interest in running, but graciously bowed out when my early strong numbers came in. Grasso is a great campaigner. He’s about 5’9” and 58 years old. Despite his modest height, he has a stature in front of an audience that grabs people’s attention. Also, he’s from Ohio, a key state I need to win.

Don Cooper convinced me that my campaign headquarters should be on State Street, a name that everybody associates with Chicago, rather than LaSalle Street, a block known as a power center of big law firms, including Blake & Randolph. I wouldn’t spend much time at my campaign headquarters. It was now my job as a candidate to be all over the country, meeting people, eating knishes, kissing babies, and all the stuff involved with running for a high office. I looked at the job as fun, and Dee and Don Cooper helped me keep my head centered on the long road ahead. But today I was at the Blake for President Headquarters, meeting with various political operatives, as well as a few callers.

Barbara, my former secretary with Blake & Randolph, now worked for my campaign. She buzzed me on the intercom. “Matt, a gentlemen named Miguel Andres is here and would like to see you. I’m sure you remember him.”

Remember him? Miguel was my first client, a man I represented in my first personal injury case years ago. He was severely injured in a car accident, and I convinced the jury to award him a $12 million dollar verdict. We’ve stayed in touch over the years, through Christmas and birthday cards.

I greeted him in Spanish, although he spoke perfect English. Dee has kept me on a program of Spanish lessons, thinking it would be good for the campaign. Miguel still walked with a limp from his car accident.

“I know how busy you are, Mr. Blake, but I had to drop by to see you. Sorry to bother you.”

“Miguel, it’s no bother at all. Tell me what you’ve been up to, my friend.”

Why people feel the need to apologize when they call to wish me well is beyond me. If they only knew how much it meant to me they’d never apologize. I love to hear messages from people I’ve known over my life. It’s one of the best parts of the stressful job of campaigning

As soon as Miguel left, I buzzed Don Cooper. He loved the idea of my speaking to the Hispanic business group.

***

In the month since my campaign got under way I had appeared on 25 TV shows. I always held the idea in front of me, and Dee emphasized it as well, that if I can convince a jury to go my way, I can convince anybody. Don Cooper and his staff are experts at scheduling, at getting me in front of an audience. But that afternoon I would face one of my biggest challenges to date. I was scheduled to tape the Mary Moriarty afternoon TV show on MSNBC. Mary Moriarty is a woman of the far left. It’s well known among politicians that she hates men in general, and Republican men in particular. Mary is famous for her “gotcha” questions.

“Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, it’s my pleasure to welcome Matt Blake, the probable Republican nominee for President of the United States.” She said that without the slightest hint of a smile, as if she was introducing someone with body odor. After a few softball questions about the rigors of running a national campaign, she zeroed in on her “gotcha” subject of the day.

“Mr. Blake, I have to raise a sensitive topic today, one that few people know about, your struggles with alcoholism and drug abuse.”

A topic that “few people know about?” It’s one of the most widely discussed topics, one that I never shy away from. As Dee says, people love to hear about “sin and redemption.”

“If it’s not too difficult for you to speak about, Mr. Blake, would you care to comment on these rumors?”

“I’d be happy to, Mary.” Don Cooper had coached me not to lose my temper with this woman, because she’d only make the most of it. “I’m not sure about what you said about ‘few people’ knowing about my past problems. I wrote an op-ed article for the
Wall Street Journal
last month, specifically addressing that topic. Also, last week
The New York Times
ran a feature article on the subject in the Sunday Magazine Section. As I’ve said many times to many people, addiction is not something to ignore. If you think you have a problem, you do, and if you do you need to take actions to handle it. In my case, a good friend intervened early in my addiction journey and convinced me to enter alcohol and drug rehabilitation, which I did. I’m happy to say that I’ve been clean and sober ever since. It’s important to take it one day at a time, and I think it’s also important to be there for other people, to be willing to be a helping hand if they need it.”

“So how can you convince our viewers that your problem is behind you? How do we know that you may need to check in for rehab again tomorrow? Is it not common for people to ‘fall off the wagon,’ so to speak?”

“People should never fear ‘falling off the wagon,’ Mary. It’s a question of personal commitment, and in my case, I haven’t fallen off since I went through rehab. I’ve had friends who have fallen, and I’ve always been there for them to help them climb back on. And I’m telling you, Mary, that if you ever have a problem again, after your five visits to rehab, I’m personally offering you a helping hand.”

I guessed she figured that nobody would bother to research her own background. It wasn’t difficult for my researchers to discover that Mary Moriarty had been in rehab five times, had accumulated seven DUI charges, and was once arrested for punching a cop in public. She looked down at her notes, visibly flustered. But she pressed on.

“Mr. Blake, this is not about me, this is about you, a man running for the office of president.”

“Of course it’s not about you, Mary, and I never want it to be. That’s why I’m offering you my hand should you ever need it. I’ve stared down the monsters of alcohol and drugs, and I’m willing to help you as well.”

The producer wisely cut to a commercial break. I was told I could leave, as the next guest was about to take the air.

The following week the Mary Moriarty Show was canceled, and she was reassigned to be one of five panelists on an MSNBC morning news show.

***

“Matt,” Don Cooper yelled as I walked into the office, “you met the Loch Ness Monster of daytime TV and turned her into a harmless guppy. I can’t wait until you debate Bartholomew Martin.”

Chapter 59

“This is Brett Baier from Fox News ladies and gentlemen, on special assignment to the Bartholomew Martin campaign rally at Yankee Stadium. It’s a crisp cool October evening, but that hasn’t kept the crowds away.  With a seating capacity of just under 50,000, this place is packed. It’s standing room only, and a lot of people are doing just that.

In a campaign that came seemingly out of nowhere this past summer, Bartholomew Martin has stumped the nation’s political pundits. Nobody knows much about the man, other than that he’s a successful businessman and the head of the investment company Metro Metrics and a couple of big hedge funds. His name has been linked to that secretive organization known as NFL—no, not the football league—but a group dedicated to fighting radical Islam. NFL stands for
Not For Long,
supposedly meaning that radical Islam’s days are numbered. Mr. Martin seems to have tapped into a deep vein in the American voting population, a vein that’s a combination of fear and out-and-out populism.

The polls were taken 13 months out from the election, but the Martin forces have amazed everyone, including this reporter. He’s running a grassroots third party campaign and the name of the party is Freedom from Terror. The shocking thing about this third-party effort is that it seems to pull equally from the left and the right. This is unlike the Ross Perot campaign in 1992, which drew votes mainly from Republicans, and is credited by many with handing the election to Bill Clinton. The Martin campaign is surging across the political spectrum. His poll numbers are up 20 percent nationally in the past six weeks, and he’s taking the game to his opponents in key battleground states of Florida, Michigan, Ohio, and Pennsylvania.

I have with us Fox News political analyst Britt Hume to talk about this phenomenon.”

“Brett, this campaign is nothing short of amazing. I think it’s safe to say that none of us talking heads saw this coming. Bartholomew Martin has found a campaign issue that nobody else guessed was even on the table. He’s tapped into a deep upset across all political lines, a distrust of radical Islam and its constant attacks on the West. I’m going to interrupt my comments, Brett, because I see that the candidate is approaching the microphone.”

The capacity crowd in Yankee Stadium stood and roared for seven minutes. Bartholomew Martin slowly walked back and forth across the stage, waiting for the cheers to die down. Although he had a reputation for being soft-spoken, on the stump in the past few months he had learned the art of raising his voice to connect to an audience.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” Martin began, “we are about to see a rebirth of freedom in our great country—freedom from the fear of terror. I pledge to you that I shall not rest until the forces of radicalism are soundly defeated, and are ready to be welcomed to join the civilized world. For too long our country, and yes the great religion of Islam, have been intimidated by the hordes of cowardly killers. From the day the Twin Towers fell, I have pledged myself that our nation will be free of this scourge, free to pursue our peaceful lives without fear of terror.”

He walked the length of the stage again, reveling in the cheers.

“Will you join with me in this great fight?” 
Yess
, the crowd screamed.

“Will you help me to defeat the forces of radical terror once and for all?”
Yess
, the audience roared.

“On election day your voices will be heard, the voices of peace, the voices of freedom.”

The crowd began another thundering ovation. Martin continued for another 20 minutes, constantly bringing the throng to its feet. The monitor returned to Britt Hume being interviewed by Brett Baier.

“Back in June, Britt, nobody saw this coming. It’s nothing short of phenomenal. Martin has been criticized by many, including me, for his lack of specifics, his penchant for not mentioning any programs that he supports. Even his war on terror has no specifics around the outline, but, according to the polls, the voters don’t seem to care. At this point the election is still too close to call, but there’s no doubt about the fact that Bartholomew Martin is surging in the months coming up to the election.

There’s another thing about this man, Britt, something I can’t really understand. I’ve interviewed him a few times, and the thing I noticed is that he never pauses at the end of one of my questions. He just answers immediately. Naturally, his answers never seemed to have anything to do with my questions, but he always gets away with it. We hear the word
Teflon
used in politics all the time, first used against Ronald Reagan because nothing bad ever seemed to stick to him. Well this candidate is like Teflon coated with butter. His poll numbers just keep growing.

“But what about his guy Matt Blake from Chicago, Brett? His campaign has just gotten off the ground and he seems to be doing well?”

“We’ll just have to see if his polling numbers can come close to Bartholomew’s.”

Chapter 60

I walked into the living room at 5:45 a.m. Dee handed me a cup of coffee. I had just heard her yell.

“What was the yelling about, honey?” I said.

“Maybe I should have given you decaf, Matt. You’re about to be shocked. The guy on CNN just talked about the latest polling numbers. Matt, your campaign launched just a few weeks ago, and you’re now in the lead. Big time in the lead. Your approval numbers are at 55 percent, and Martin has dropped to 43 percent. Senator Lysle for the Democrats has 11 percent. It seems that every time your handsome puss is on TV your numbers go up.”

“Hey, professor, give me a kiss. Correct me if I’m wrong, but you’ve been telling me all along that early poll numbers can evaporate. And it’s definitely early. The election is still a few months out, and anything can change, as you’ve often told me. Don Cooper keeps reminding me of the same thing.”

“You’re right, Matt, I shouldn’t be overly optimistic. But you’re running unopposed on the Republican ticket, and Kurt Lysle for the Democrats is losing traction. It’s you against Bartholomew, and the numbers keep trending one way. And poll numbers do matter, even early poll numbers. The higher the numbers the more campaign donations you can expect, and they’re definitely rolling in. And don’t forget, that money will be used later in the campaign to buy a lot of advertising, and if necessary, hire more staff.”

I learned in combat that you can never relax, even if you have the enemy on the run. You have to pursue and either kill the enemy or get him to surrender. Never, ever give the enemy a chance to regroup. I guess I shouldn’t think about elective politics as armed combat, because there are obviously differences. But this election is different, the obvious difference being that I’m running. This election campaign is very different from armed combat—it’s more intense.

From everything I know about Bartholomew and the NFL, they don’t like to lose. And I’m beating them. Having more points on the board is supposed to make you feel good. But, sports fan that I am, I know that numbers can vanish. And they always vanish for a reason. For what reason my numbers could vanish is a thought that gives me a sharp pain in my stomach.

“Hey, where are you going?” I said to Dee.

“Remember, I have that early breakfast meeting at the university. I’ll see you later, honey.”

“But you’ve forgotten something,” I said, as I checked the clip on Dee’s Glock. I helped take her jacket off and put her holster around her shoulders.

“Don’t leave home without it, baby.”

***

Shortly after Dee left, the phone rang.

“Hi Matt, It’s Mike, Imam Mike.”

Mike rarely called me on the phone. I knew this call must be important, especially from the tone of Mike’s voice.

“I congratulate you on your excellent polling numbers, Matt, but I have something important to tell you, and I think it has something to do with your numbers. Here’s the bottom line: My contacts keep telling me about something big that’s coming up, something big from the NFL. Your polling data has them worried, and when Bartholomew worries, he does something about it. The election is only a month away.”

“Do you have any specifics, Mike?”

“No, Matt, I can’t be specific. I’m seldom able to be specific, but when my inside people tell me something big is coming, I don’t doubt it. I can’t tell you when, where, or what the ‘big thing’ may be, but something will happen. I’ve already spoken to the FBI and CIA about this. They’ll be in touch with you soon. Matt, keep your head down, my friend.”