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Chapter 28
As election day came, the last few
months went off without a hitch, as the tour continued and now nearing
that final close. We have
covered all of the states we were going to visit now, joining up with
Senator Noble from time to time, him having resigned his post as the
Senate majority leader, to dedicate full time to the presidential race.
The news coverage with our explosion mishap has seemed to help the
election gain substantial momentum and has not let up a bit.
The entire country seemed to be behind us now, a household name in
about every case. The
nighttime talk shows were poking their fun jabs, but more so at the past
republican administration and their lame duck position, another successful
sign of us gaining attention. Over
these past few months, we had several interviews on television that
included morning shows, as well as several successful news channel
interviews. Since the entire
Republican Party had gotten behind us and we were running so strong, we
needed no primary because we were the only republicans running.
The democrats and independents had successfully picked their
candidate, and the final election is finally today.
The polls had us winning the election with a favorable seventy-four
percent which was higher than anyone could expect.
The campaign slams that the democrats were pushing were playing
against themselves, as we ran a clean election, something I persisted in
selling to the Republican Party. The
polls were so much in our favor, that they felt that it was not necessary
to do negative ads anyway. This
allowed us to run a television ad campaign in a positive manor, something
everyone seemed to be refreshingly happy with.
No one in our party had any bad press over these last few months
too, so we had nothing negative that was adversely affecting our campaign.
“How are you feeling Mr.
President?” “Fine Margie,
how are you this morning.” She
has been trying that name on for size the last couple of weeks, and it was
starting to sound normal, coming from her of course.
“Can we have breakfast down at the lobby this morning?
This is voting day.” “Of
course Mrs. Simms, we will prepare.” We
were used to checking with the Secret Service in everything we did now, so
all was pretty normal for our day.
We were used to the nice hotels too, as the campaign funds
were finally being spent out in all ways we could.
This was all a proper course of business.
“I still can’t believe it Margie.
I think if the polls don’t lie, that I will be President Elect by
this evening. Then when the
middle of January arrives and I am sworn in, I will have a whole new set
of issues to deal with. It
won’t be this publicity contest anymore.
It will be the country’s problems we are dealing with.”
“Are you ready for that Goldie?”
“I have noticed that the further you get up in government the
more the government is there for you.
As President, I do feel I will have all the support I will need
with the number of departments and staff.
Yes, I think I will have to make the right decisions, but do
believe if I act in full faith for what is right, I will have plenty of
people to help me, delegating a lot of course.
I guess a good leader delegates well.
It feels weird now to start actually thinking about what I will do
in office, other than just answers of what if with the campaign speeches
and questions. We can deal
with the country’s problems later. For
now, let’s eat. Are you
ready?” “Sure Goldie. Let’s
go eat.”
The
polls were swarming with the press, as we were the big news of the day.
We voted and it felt good to finally do so.
With no primary for us, this was the first time I had ever seen my
name on a ballot. Hughes
Foster had chosen not to run, as he kept his post as Speaker of the House.
We were doing well with the Presidential Election, and it helped
with Hughes Foster choosing to not run, and the Democrats were doing well
at the state level in the polls, so he felt he would do well to stay where
he was at. It was the best
think he could have done for our election success, as no one else could
give us a run for our money. The
American people had felt we were doing a good job, evident in the polls,
but did not have full faith in the rest of the Republican Party, so I’m
figuring would take a couple of elections to swing the House to a
Republican Majority House. We
had planned our day to be alone, watching the election returns on
television, then go to the Republican’s election results party as we saw
the returns come in. Whether
they were in our favor or not, either way, we had the plan to be there
about 11:00 pm to accept the election results in either case.
The day went quickly as the election results came in state by
state. As the polls suggested,
a landslide ensued. First the
smaller states counted it up and turned in their results, then the larger
states, Florida being late as usual with the final count, not coming in
any sooner than California, both with the heavy electoral vote numbers.
As the evening progressed, we saw we were winning the election
before the final states came in. I
was actually going to be President of the
United States
. The realization was now
setting in. The personal
excitement level was now starting to peak, and Margie was giddy as a
child, almost waiting on me hand and foot.
Mr. President this, Mr. President that, she was fun to see like
this. She knew she was about
to be the First Lady too, this also was running through her head.
“Imagine, I get to decorate the White House!
I can leave my historic mark too!”
I think she was more excited about that than anything.
We were both on cloud nine, as we got in the limousine to head to
the party. This was going to
be a fun evening for sure. All
the fires, the truck blowing up and the threat on our lives, everything
that had happened to us up to this date all seemed to have an underlying
meaning and purpose now. These
results were as great as anyone could imagine.
We considered it all to be worth it at this point.
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