He suddenly felt so completely frustrated and outraged that he exploded up to his feet and charged back across the Rim to the conference room where the 'morning meetings' were held each day at ten A. M.
The huge conference room, as usual, was jammed. Seated around the large table were the vice presidents of news practice, news coverage, as well as the VPs of business affairs and finance.
Steve Israel, senior VP of news, ran the meeting. Also attending were the senior broadcast segment producers, the director of the political unit, the anchors for the two news mags, as well as Brenton Spencer of the nightly news, the political analysts, and all senior political correspondents.
Cole burst into the room. 'You guys oughta be ashamed of yourselves,' he said to the startled 'big feet.'
'Cole, this isn't the time' Steve Israel snapped.
'The Alo family has a silent ownership in two Atlantic City casinos. I've got good proof. . witnesses who've seen meetings between Mickey and his father Joseph and members of the Murphy Hotel syndicate. I've gone back and looked at tax records of the Murphy family. These guys owned furniture stores in the eighties. How the hell did they get the money to do a leveraged buyout on two hotels and a casino carpet joint?'
'The decision has been made.'
He'd been escorted by Security to his office, where his badges and network press pass were removed from his desk before he could even hand them over. A news staffer was sent to get a box and Cole loaded his stuff inside.
'You guys are working for a bunch of assholes,' he'd said as he loaded his desk into the cardboard box. 'A free press is the cornerstone of democracy,' he lectured the uninterested security men, who were watching him closely, making sure he didn't remove any company property. 'If this news division won't run valid stories, exposing power brokers and criminal conspiracies, then it's lower than whale shit,' he'd said, half shouting, as he slammed notebooks and leather folders into the box. The last things to go in were his two Pulitzer citations and a pen and pencil set given to him last Christmas by C. Wallace Litman, engraved TO COLE HARRIS, THE BEST OF THE BEST. C. WALLACE LITMAN. He grabbed the box and, with one security guard holding each arm, they escorted him out of the building.
He'd tried to get employment at other networks, but Steve Israel had scorched the ground around him. Nobody would touch him.
Cole had run out of money and for two months had been living in the back of his van in the driveway of Carson's house, eating his meals with his brother and sister-in-law in the cramped dining room, wondering whether he should end it all. He had bought a gun and twice found himself holding the weapon in a shaking hand, wondering if he could put it in his mouth and pull the trigger. But something had stopped him. As he sat in the diner, the reason reached up and grabbed him. . If he killed himself, the y w ould have won. They would have beaten him. His compulsion to win had somehow saved him.
Cole's ex-wife had told him when she was divorcing him that his strongest link was attached to his weakest and that was why she couldn't stand to live with him. It was the one thing she'd said among all the hurled insults and invectives that had made any sense. Cole was humorless and he was driven. His strong link was his compulsion to be right. That compulsion had made him a tireless researcher and had won him two Pulitzers. His weak link, he had come to find out, was that same compulsion. He drove people crazy. Systematically, he had driven away all the soft, nourishing contacts in his life and was left with the bony remnants.
Then he felt a presence standing over him and looked up to see Solomon Kazorowski, with an unlit, soggy cigar in his mouth, glowering down at him.
'I think maybe we need to share some info.' Kaz sat down heavily and looked at the newsman, who was dressed in neatly pleated pants with a blue shirt, tie, matching suspenders, and tweed coat. Despite this perfect ensemble, Cole had only a few dollars left in his pocket. His newsman's instinct took over.
'Let me buy you a cup,' he said, pulling out two bills, wondering if he could pump this sorry piece of ex- government beef for some information, without giving up any of his own. Kaz had exactly the same agenda.
They played mind poker for two hours, giving little bits of information to get back little bits, trading shreds like beggars. Each wondered how he could use the other to his own advantage. Gradually and begrudgingly, they gained respect for one another.
Chapter 38
That same day, a hundred miles north, new hampshire voters were going to the polls. A. J. knew that Haze was going to win big. The question was, How big? Since the defining event in New York, Haze was the frontrunner, tracking in the high 50 percentiles. The message had scored. The question wasn't, Would he win New Hampshire? — but, Would he win it bigger than any candidate in modern history?
Even better news was that the Super Tuesday states were all polling their way. A. J. had been told that Senator Skatina was going to drop out if he did less than 20 percent in New Hampshire, and A.]. was pretty sure that was going to happen. Skatina had 'managed the damage' stemming from the mob allegations as best he could, but they'd slowed him down and hurt him. The other candidates were DOA in New Hampshire and would probably pull out, too. It was pretty damn hard to get political funding if you're losing elections and trailing in the polls. A candidate needed over 20 percent to qualify for government matching funds.
The way A. J. had it figured, a week from today, after Super Tuesday, Haze should be running unopposed, except for a few favorite-son candidates. He'd be virtually assured of the Democratic nomination.
A. J. had called a strategy meeting in his Manchester hotel room with Malcolm, Vidal Brown, Carol Wakano, and Ven and Van. He'd left Haze off the list because more and more he'd been fighting with Haze for center stage in strategy sessions. He felt it would also be a good idea for Haze to get Anita back from Providence. A few articles had already appeared speculating about the candidate's missing wife. A. J. knew they were barely speaking, but he was urging Haze to make an effort to patch things up before Super Tuesday. He desperately needed some photo ops with Anita.
There was a knock on the door. He opened it and let his 'first circle' in. They spread out in the small room, all of them wearing big smiles. It was fun being on a winning team. The purpose of this meeting was to look past Super Tuesday and start thinking about the Republican Vice President who had been running pretty much unopposed. Vice President James 'F'udge' Anderson had been basically selling the regular Republican agenda, not sure whether to take on Skatina, who had started looking like the man to beat, or to shift his focus to Haze.
After the New Hampshire win tonight, and after the latest tracking poll in the Super Tuesday states, A. J. knew the Republicans were going to be looking for ways to knock Haze around, and he had to get some strategy going for that.
'Okay, kids, we've got ponies coming out our ass and that's great,' he started. 'But we gotta start looking ahead. All winning campaigns communicate optimism, and we've been doing that. Americans are optimistic about Haze, optimistic about the message, but the Republicans are gonna start throwing mud. We've been riding a media wave recently, but we gotta get ready for some white water. Vidal, what have you got for next week?'
'I just got off the phone. We booked Haze on the Hour of the Living Dead,' Vidal said, referring to what insiders called Washington Week in Review. 'We aren't gonna do Letterman or Leno, or any of the entertainment shows yet. They're calling, but I said wait till after Super Tuesday. We're going to stay with a hard news look. Besides Night-line, we'll do a Sixty Minutes piece. We're still arguing over the correspondent. . I want Lesley Stahl to help with our gender gap. Haze knows her and feels comfortable, but they want Bradley. They're probably gonna fold if we give them an exclusive three-day window. That would keep us off Nightline till Wednesday. I think with all the free press, I can live with that,' he said. 'We're also booked on Larry King Live for some call-in segments. The way the polls are running, we should do great in that venue,' he said, finishing his update.
'Okay, we'll have a separate meeting on campaign spots after this one,' A. J. said. 'Ven, I need a new two- sentence policy on all the key issues to deal with what the Republicans are gonna throw at us. I also want spotlight teams to work on world affairs. We need Haze to look good on foreign policy 'cause that's Pudge Anderson's strong suit.'
The door opened and Susan Winter put her head in. 'What's going on in here?' she asked, smiling at them and
