mildly hopeful tone, knowing full well what Connolly was up to. The events of the evening had not fazed the vice president’s son. Donald Wellesley Jr., like Connolly, was always looking for political angles to play. “I’m wondering if there is a way to spin this to our advantage.”
“Spin this?” Connolly asked, thinking it as well, but not wanting to go there in front of the vice president. “We don’t want to touch this.”
“Why the hell not?” Junior asked, having no such reservations, as he poured himself a glass of bourbon. “We’re three points down nationally, and trailing by about that much in the key swing states. If there is a way to take some advantage of this, we can’t take a pass on it.” If Connolly was cutthroat, Wellesley Jr. was a political sociopath and his own father knew it.
“No, no, no,” the vice president said. “We have no idea what is blowing in the wind here and what direction it might be blowing. What if some lunatic sympathetic to our party is behind this for some crazy reason? Then what? We’ll be spinning our way out of a bigger hole than we are already in. So no, we will not be trying to get out front on this to take some advantage. If we get out front, I would do it only as a form of protection and only to express my sympathies to the Thomson campaign.”
“Father, I’m merely suggesting we need to play every angle here is all. You want to win, don’t you?”
“Damn right I do. But I’d like to win and have a shred of dignity left.” Then the vice president turned his gaze to Connolly. “Before all this happened in the last half hour, I was going to come in here about the advertising. Heath, what are the Super PACs doing? Jesus Christ, it’s a carpet bombing. I don’t tell you how to do your job but I don’t think this is working.”
“I disagree, sir,” Connolly replied. “I think it’s doing exactly what it’s supposed to be doing. It is sewing greater doubt in Thomson and we just need to keep hammering that message at this point. It’s our best strategy.” Not to mention good cover for his primary strategy. “Besides, sir, I can’t call the Super PACs off. I’ve learned the hard way about coordinating with the Super PACs, so I do not have much ability to control what they are doing. Besides, they, as do I, as do you, view Thomson as a big threat. The Super PACs will not go down without a fight. Right or wrong, they figure they’ll lose exponentially more than they’re spending if Thomson wins.”
The vice president stood up and walked around the suite, shaking his head. Vice President Donald Wellesley was a small government conservative who believed in low taxes, less government regulation and business friendly policies. He was also a man of honor and integrity who was occasionally willing to make common cause with politicians on the other side of the aisle for the good of the country. He often said, “You know the guy on the other side has a good idea from time to time.” This campaign, the negative advertising, the vitriol of it all would, even if he won, make it difficult to govern. The wounds would be deep.
Connolly didn’t care if it would be difficult to govern. If you won, at least you governed, you controlled the levers of power. To make this work he needed the vice president to finish strong and stay on message. “Sir, as I listen to the commentary tonight, I don’t see a lot of criticism of you in this. You are on the record as saying the Supreme’s screwed the pooch with Citizens United. So while the political commentariat is hammering the advertising, I don’t hear them hammering you.”
The vice president looked out the window for a moment and then turned to leave. “I hope you’re right, Heath, but I fear the damage has already been done.”
With that the vice president left Connolly’s suite. Wellesley Jr. stayed. “So, our friend was behind what happened in St. Paul tonight?”
“He called earlier to let me know they had a line on Montgomery. I’m betting he’s the other body at McCormick’s. It’s only a matter of time before that gets out.”
“I don’t see how that hurts us, actually,” Wellesley Jr. answered nonplussed. “I think it might even help us.”
“How so?”
“Two political bloggers and the deputy campaign manager for