Author's note: Any perceived denigration of your favorite real life political candidate is purely intentional on my part as any feeling more positive than a deep ambivalence about any of them is almost certainly due to not knowing better.

***********************************************************

"First, I have to know that you're committed, Gar," said Speedy stepping toward Beast Boy in the middle of the latter's room.

"I am," declared Beast Boy. "I was thinking about it since we talked. I don't just want to avoid embarassment. I wanna win."

"Good, good," smiled Speedy. "That's a necessary first step. Now, let's see what we have to work with," he added and started slowly circling Beast Boy.

"Mmm hmm. Mmm hmm. Mmm hmm."

"What are you doing?" asked Beast Boy turning his head to follow the taller archer.

"Checking you out."

"Dude. This is not going to be an opening for you to make a pass at me."

"Gar. I'm offended. Just because you're taller now and you have a nice round pair of buns and very good abs and a great face . . . . . . . ," Speedy finished with a sigh.

"You were, weren't you?"

Speedy shrugged. "So sue me. Let's just get down to business, okay?" he said and tugged at Beast Boy's uniform. "That's a unitard, right?"

Beast Boy sighed, rolled his eyes and nodded.

"With a dance belt underneath?"

Beast Boy sighed, rolled his eyes and nodded.

Speedy smiled that green cheeks could blush that red. Speedy grabbed at both sides of Beast Boy's uniform just above the hip bone and tugged upward.

"Hey!"

"Hey yourself. Why do you wear it so low? Chicks dig big packages and guys respect 'em."

"I know but I feel weird showing how . . . " Beast half shrugged, " . . I am."

"Well you are . . . ," Speedy mockingly imitated Beast Boy's half shrug. "So don't conceal it. Can you get this suit to stick to your lower abs better. That'll highlight it even more."

Beast Boy frowned. Speedy sighed. "Fine, just wear the waist band of the dance belt a half inch higher than you've been. And if you're at a podium or something turned a little bit to one side, shift your weight so that it's a little bit more on the leg closer to the audience."

"Why?"

Speedy patted the changeling's backside. "Makes your butt look more muscular. Chicks dig it and guys respect it."

"You dig it," muttered Beast Boy through a sigh.

Speedy shrugged. "So what? Everyone notices everyone else's body Gar. I'm just more honest about it than most people. Alright now," he said as he straightened up and Beast Boy could see him looking at his head and specifically his hair.

"What?"

"Gar, it's good that you don't have that pathetic excuse for a haircut, that bowl cut you were working for about 4 years there but why do you have this 70's cut that hides your ears."

Beast Boy shrugged sheepishly.

"Come on . . ."

Beast Boy sighed.

"Come on, Gar!"

"Fine! I got to the point where I hated my pointy ears because they were part of me being short and joked about as being an elf and shit like that by Cy and even Robin."

"I thought you used to say that chicks dug your pointy ears."

"I . . . I just said that. It-it felt better to make up something like that than to say I was ashamed of how I looked."

Speedy doubled over laughing.

"What?!" demanded an angry Beast Boy.

"You . . . idiot!" laughed Speedy.

"What?! Really?"

"Me and Giselle were cuddling after the last time and she was talking about the guys she likes at the fashion shows, the guys she thinks are hot and she was all sighing and apologizing thinking she was going to offend me then she told me how much she loves your ears."

"Really?!"

"Completely, Gar! Her. Kate. Nadya. All of them."

"Dude, I didn't go out with all of those girls at the last Jump City Fashion Show."

"They didn't all say they'd been with you. They were talking and the ones who knew you better annnnd the others who'd only seen you with their friends all agreed that the ears are totally hot," said Speedy and he smoothed Beast Boy's now nearly collar length dark hair down so that his ears showed and then rubbed one fingertip over the changeling's pointy green ear. "Mmmm."

Beast Boy slapped the archer's hand away then walked over and looked at himself in the mirror over his dresser, seeing his once embarassing ears in a totally different way for the first time and he smiled. Speedy smiled as well, thinking that as powerful as they all were, they all had most of the same insecurities of normal teenagers.

"Okay, that's the easy part, Gar. If we're gonna make over your image to be that of fitting leader for the Teen Titans, we have a lot of other work to do."

"Like what, dude?" asked Beast Boy turning around to face him.

"Like that, for starters. From this moment on, no more saying 'Dude'. It sounds like a kid not a man fit to be leader."

"But that's how I talk!"

"Does your father talk like that?"

"Dude, my . . . I mean . . Speedy! My . . . my father's . . . dead."

Speedy was taken aback at how quickly the changeling's handsome face clouded over.

"I'm-I'm in the same boat, Gar. My father's dead and-and so's the man who was my . . guardian after he passed away."

"Oh wow, double. Sorry dude, I mean, sorry Roy."

The two frowning teens faced each other a few moments, both hurt and letting it show and the fact that they'd shown that hurt to each other and not been mocked but had found understanding forged a connection between the two acquaintances.

"What kind of english did your dad speak?" asked Speedy softly.

"He was a scientist. He always talked kind of highbrow and precise."

"Well, how about you just imitate him a bit, use a bit of his style. No offense, but the whole 'dude' thing doesn't seem like how a leader should talk. And you've been a leader. You led the comeback against the Brotherhood. Don't let a silly word or two take away from that impression in peoples' minds."

Beast Boy nodded solemnly.

"Okay!" continued Speedy, intentionally loud to break the mood. "On to the bigger questions, how do you present yourself to best advantage as compared to Bee and then Robin."

Beast Boy shrugged. "I don't know how. That's why I asked you to help."

"Well, I did a little research after you called me and there are some general principles of appealing to voters. For instance, the taller candidate usually wins and you're taller than Bee or that little runt Robin, now."

Beast Boy chuckled.

"Shorter names on the ballot generally have an advantage, although there's some thought that this is the byproduct of times gone by when xenophobia caused people to vote against immigrants with non anglo saxon names. At any rate, they'd both have you beat on that one."

"Hmm. Yeah."

"But we can make inroads against that. We start a viral campaign where we have the letters "BB" appearing everywhere."

"Everywhere? How'll we do that?"

"Don't worry. I'll take care of it."

"Okay. What else?"

"Another powerful theme with a track record of success is the outsider. Think about it, Gar. Little Bat and Bee have been the leaders for more than 4 years now, 4 years of being in charge without ever being chosen for the job by their peers. They're the power. They're the insiders. You're the fresh, green agent of change," said Speedy and he started stroking his chin with the fingers of one hand. "Hmm. Yeah. That opens up a lot of things, doesn't it, change? I mean, shit, you're a change . . ling. Who's more for change than you? Beast Boy, change you can count on!"

Beast Boy laughed.

"We could lift that whole campaign theme from the last election, couldn't we?"

"Would that be plagiarism?"

"Political sampling!" corrected Speedy. "Just like taking a riff from an old song."

"The campaign's only been over a week."

"Old enough."

"How do we . . use a campaign theme, anyway? We've got a couple weeks till the primary election for the Cool party-"

Speedy snickered.

"-and, well, what am I gonna do in that time? How do I . . 'campaign' for this office."

Speedy shook his head slowly like a teacher dealing with a poor student. "The same way those jerks in the real campaign did. You run ads and you make personal appearances."

"Ads? Where?"

"Titans TV, of course."

"Titans TV? What the hell's that?"

Titans TV, Speedy explained to his verdant friend, was the non emergency use of the extremely high frequency used for communicator transmissions and also for transmissions from one tower to the other. It was an untapped goldmine, explained Speedy. It's been there since the inception of the team but the only use that's ever been made of it has been Robin and Bee using it a few times to send messages to other Titans, like that introduction thing that they made all the new members watch, how to use your communicator, how to contact us, don't let this happen to you. Training films.

Beast Boy laughed at the recollection of having seen one, when Hot Spot showed him his. Robin was so stiff. "Friends . . . ."

Speedy laughed too. But, he explained, it was a resource that could be used for a lot of other things. Imagine, he said, if the auxiliary members in the cool party received a steady diet of short promotional films about a certain changeling, the guy who led the comeback against the Brotherhood of Evil. And, imagine if they also got a steady diet of internet communications about a certain green candidate . .

Beast Boy nodded, impressed. "You've really put some thought into this."

"Of course I have, Gar. I play to win. You saw that down in the combat simulations room, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Great fight," said Beast Boy noticing that Speedy looked distracted. "What? What is it?"

"I know just the person to help us put these promos together, too. Come on!"

Speedy strode briskly out of Beast Boy's room with the changeling not far behind and made his way down to the end of the hall. He knocked hard three times and was met, when the door opened, by the skeptical squint of Cyborg. At first, Cyborg resisted. He had signed up with the Tough Party, he protested. How could he work for a candidate of the Cools? But Speedy didn't try to convert him to the Cool Party. He pitched it to Cyborg as strictly a mercenary thing and a technological challenge. Could he produce high quality ads in the short time necessary? Speedy saw how this had some appeal to Cyborg and worked at that angle, the challenge of it, mixing in some surprised remarks that no other candidates had seen the value in his expertise and ten minutes later Cyborg was signed on as a consultant to the Beast Boy for leader campaign.

They broke up and agreed to meet the next day. In the meantime, Speedy wanted Beast Boy to get in a T-Jet and go and visit some of the auxiliary members. Right away. Get the jump on Bee while she was still thinking of how to beat Robin. So, that afternoon and evening, Beast Boy made three stops, Hot Spot, Herald and Argent. Speedy rode in the T-Jet with him and on the way over prepped him with the jet set for auto pilot.

"Stay on message!" he nearly shouted at his verdant client. "You've got three themes to drive home, Gar. First, change. Robin and Bee've been leaders without ever being elected. It's time for an outsider. Second is your work against the Brotherhood. Who led the comeback? You did! What better example of fitness for a leadership post could there be than coming through like that when all our lives were on the line. Don't make a point of it, but a subtle dig that Robin fucked up and Bee pretty much did nothing can't hurt. And, third, be serious and show them that you're not the same little green guy you used to be. You've grown up. Better still, leading the comeback against the Brotherhood of Evil helped you grow up. Squeeze that in. And now you're ready to lead. Stay on message! These three points and nothing else!"

Beast Boy nodded and repeated the stuff Speedy had said but when it came time to meet Hot Spot, pretty much just said 'Hi' and forgot to do much of his campaign pitch other than asking Hot Spot to consider him.

Speedy was like a disappointed nun teaching in a catholic school, repeatedly slapping Beast Boy on the back of the head as they made their way back to the T-Jet. He critiqued Beast Boy's performance to the smallest detail, making Beast Boy feel like he'd totally failed. By the time they were touching down at the next stop, Herald's place, Beast Boy was totally down on himself and did even worse. He stood in front of Herald uncertain how to begin and afraid to screw it up, resulting in the two just standing there staring at each other.

On the T-Jet flying away from that meeting, Speedy was even more bitterly critical, stay on message, stay on message, until finally Beast Boy shouted back.

"I don't work that way, dude!"

"Don't say 'dude'!"

"Aaaarrrrrgggghhhh! I know that! But I don't . . . I don't get better if you only criticize me! Okay? That's not how I work! I need you to be fair with me! I need you to give me credit for what I did right, too! You're acting like frigging Mento and Robin!"

Speedy did his pensive chin stroking thing again. "Hmm."

"What now?"

"We've got ourselves another campaign theme. A new leadership style. A . change . . in leadership styles!"

"Not just me, Speedy! You too! I'm not gonna be hectored and nagged about everything. That's not gonna work. You have to be fair to me not just take up some negative bargaining position thinking you'll make me get further that way. I hate that stuff. Mento did it and Robin does it, too."

"Alright, alright, Gar. Let's go talk to Argent and you just do your best."

And Beast Boy's best was much better this time. He smoothly mentioned all his campaign themes even if he strayed a bit from the catch phrases Speedy wanted him to use. In the end, Argent said she was iimpressed. She said she hadn't much considered voting for Beast Boy but maybe she would. She asked how Beast Boy intended to campaign. Speedy tried to hustle him away, a hand pushing at the changeling's shoulder and backside but Beast Boy let slip that they were running ads for use on Titans TV.

Argent grabbed Beast Boy's hand and wouldn't let him go.

"Titans TV? What's that?"

Beast Boy explained briefly then Speedy filled in missing information.

"It should have its own independent news and correspondents!" declared Argent with certainty.

Beast Boy was perplexed but Speedy jumped on the idea. Absolutely! Titans TV should have its own independent reports how 'bout . . . you, he pointed to Argent, for top reporter? Argent jumped at the opportunity. And so, in the space of an afternoon, the structure of the coming campaign was set. But Beast Boy and his special consultant, Speedy, were aware of how things would go while Bee and Robin were not.

The very idea of campaigning was completely foreign to Robin. His management style wasn't consensus building. He gave orders. Period. And mostly it worked. It worked very well. He sat there in his room at the Tower staring at a blank sheet of paper with the heading "Campaign Ideas". Why did this have to change, he wondered. What do they want from me? They all want this stupid election but nobody says anything about what I was doing wrong? Nothing! The incumbent Titans leader fumed and fumed. What more do they want from me?!

In disgust at his lack of progress, Robin got up, pulled of his special steel toed shoes and stood with his back to the wall just outside his bathroom. He compressed his spiked hair and marked his height on the wall behind him with a pencil. He turned around and ground. Right next to yesterday's mark. Five feet eight and one sixteenth inches tall. Ugh. Another example of no progress. He'd been almost as tall as Kid Flash when he'd joined. They'd even shared civilian clothes sometimes. A couple days before, he'd accidentally gotten some of Wally's clothes mixed in with his from the laundry. He'd put on Wally's shirt and jeans. The sleeves covered his hands and he'd tripped because the pants were so long on him. Ugh. So humiliating to still be five eight. Even Beast Boy was almost five inches taller than that. Beast Boy! God! Imagine him being leader! Beast Boy!!

It was too much. But Robin was a fighter, not a wallower, not a self pitying type. He sat back down at his desk and stared at the blank lines on the paper. And he stared. And he stared. But eventually, his eyes lit up with excitement and he started frantically writing.

The next morning, Robin called every Titan on his communicator (except for Bee and Beast Boy, of course) and asked for their support in his campaign to be elected leader.

But it wasn't exactly a slick, polished pitch that he made and some of the Titans had trouble with his basic argument. Speedy started making fun of it to Jinx, Kid Flash and Raven in the great room at the Tower.

"Come on, Speedy," chided Jinx. "We know you're working with Beast Boy. We don't expect you to like anything Robin has to say."

"Sure, but, come on! It was just so . . . dumb," said the exasperated archer as he launched into his Robin imitation. "When Slade captured me I held out and risked everything to save my teammates. That's the kind of leadership I offer?! Really? That's the only thing he has to say? That's the best he can do? When I was captured like . . years ago, I held out against our enemy. Really? That's a good reason to vote for someone to be leader today? Like holding out against what your captors wanted you to do then means you'll make the right choices in normal life? Who ever heard of such a dumb ass reason why someone should be leader?"

Jinx, Kid Flash and Raven all raised eyebrows and glanced back and forth amongst themselves.

Meanwhile, at the Titans East tower, Bee was plotting her next move. She'd found out about what Robin was saying to other Titans. "Friends . . when I was captured by our enemy . . . " She snickered. What kind of stupid ass reasoning is that?

But what Bee really wanted to attack was his handling of the fight with the Brotherhood of Evil. That was the biggest test they'd ever faced. And Robin had bungled it. His 'hand out communicators' plan had backfired on them. She wished she'd said something against it. But she remembered saying it was a good idea. Maybe no one else would really remember? Robin had been more enthusiastic for that strategy than her, obviously. And, thankfully, the only guy who had questioned that strategy and done best in the whole Brotherhood fight was Beast Boy. The green clown. Who would take him seriously? She didn't even bother to consider it but went back to trying to figure the best angle for her campaign against Robin in their inevitable showdown. She slept with dreams of her victory party, of being interviewed by tv news figures and Oprah about being the new leader of the Titans. New leader of the Titans. New . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

So, it was only a bit annoying when she woke up and, getting dressed, found little "BB" stickers all over the door to her room and at eye level along the hallway and in the elevator up to the kitchen level of East's tower. She smiled a condescending smile to herself. Isn't that cute? The green clown wants to have a little viral marketing campaign. Aqualad was in the kitchen eating those kelpcakes he liked so much and reading a newspaper. She sighed to herself. So hot, but gay and a total nerd. Jinx got the straight one. And hers signed up for the Tough party too. But you can't ignore the chance of getting those votes.

"Morning, Garth," she said with a smile taking the seat next to him.

"A good morning to you as well, Karen."

She smiled. Always formal. Always. "Still read the paper I see," she ventured.

"Of course, Karen. It's the best way to keep up with current events."

"Well, a lot of people like the internet but I'm glad to see you take in information. And I hope you have an open mind and consider my candidacy for Titans leader."

"Karen," sighed Aqualad without looking away from the paper on the table. "You know I'm registered with the . . Tough party. I support Richard's candidacy."

"Even though he looks down on you because you're gay?"

Aqualad sighed, looked up from the paper and sat back in his chair. "Karen . . . Richard was uncomfortable with my sexual orientation as well as Roy's . . . sexual disorientation or whatever you can call what he is, but he's better about it now. Besides which, there are many factors in choosing a leader and I think Richard's a superlative choice for the job."

Bee bit her lip angrily. "You're not just saying that because you find him so attractive?"

"No! Not just because I . . I mean it doesn't matter whether I find him or you attractive. I think Richard's the best leader. He's a natural for the job."

Bee was going to say something else when Mas and Menos suddenly sped over and took two seats at the table. She cooked breakfast for them as well as herself, just as nice as could be and then casually asked them, before they got up, if she couldn't count on them to vote for her.

"We're going to vote for Senor Beast Boy!" said Menos as Bee's effortful smile fell away.

"He's the coolest of the Cools, haha!"

And with that they were off before she could even try to argue with them. She shook her head. Speedsters!

But, so what? She knew she wouldn't get Aqualad's vote. Probably too hung up on Robin's little butt. Besides, a guy from a monarchy, who was, in fact, a prince wasn't the best measure of how things would go in a democratic situation, was he? She smiled at that thought and went about her duties as East's leader. Speedy was still away at Jump City but there were no crises on the immediate horizon so that didn't seem like a problem. And her mood was slightly elevated the whole day as she'd thought up a way to counter Robin's pitch about his Slade experience.

Meanwhile, Beast Boy was working hard. Under the direction of his campaign consultant, Speedy, he was visiting more Titans every day. And he had honed his campaign message. He was smooth now. The Titans he was visiting were impressed. A common refrain was that they were sorry for still sort of thinking of him as cute little goofy Beast Boy. That's right, you did lead that comeback against the Brotherhood. I'm gonna seriously consider you.

And it was working.

"My private polling has you ahead of Bee 11 to 9," exclaimed Roy bursting into Beast Boy's room late that night.

"What?" demanded a delighted Beast Boy putting down his ipod.

"You're ahead, Gar!" he shouted slapping the green changeling's back.

"But, wait, how do you know?"

"I told you. I did some polling."

"That's not one of those double meaning things for you doing . . well, all that other stuff you do?"

Roy sighed. Once you have the rep they never take you seriously. "I called up the other members of the Cool party and asked them who they were going to vote for. Ten said you. Eight said Bee."

"But you said 11 to 9."

"Once we factor in you voting for yourself and Bee voting for herself."

"Are you sure they weren't just saying what you wanted to hear while you were talking to them?"

"Argent's got the same numbers in her polling for Titans TV. I uh . . suggested it might make a good story for Titans TV for her to do a story about the status of the race. She's gonna interview you tomorrow morning at 10," said Speedy and looked at the time on Beast Boy's alarm clock. "She . . just got done interviewing Bee. I can't wait to see how Bee handled that news."

Not well.

The next day, the 4th of the campaign, after breakfast, Cyborg sat down to play a video game with Beast Boy while the others were all nearby in the kitchen or at the communications center. After Cyborg turned on the tv, a burst of graphics and sound effects to put Fox News and CNN to shame filled the screen and air as a logo filled the screen.

TITANS TV

Cyborg pressed the buttons to start the video game but somehow it wouldn't. The TITANS TV letters exploded into tiny pieces across the screen and then the picture changed to show Argent, with a microphone, approaching Bee at the communications center of East's tower. Argent was speaking in a pretentious sounding version of her normal english accent, oddly drawing out the syllables of some of her words.

"I'm here with Bumblebee, the leader of Titans Eeeeeeeeeeast."

"Um, hi, what's this?" asked slightly agitated Bee. "Why do you have that camera set up there?"

"Bumblebee, I'm Argent, correspondent for Titans Tee Veeeeeeeeeeeee."

"I-I know who you are. What-what are you doing here?"

"I'm here to get your reaction to the lastest polls showing you trailing Beast Boy for the nomination of the . . Cool party by ten perceeeeeent. Do you have a plan for trying to make up the significant lead Beast Boy has opened up in the polls?"

"What . . what polls are you talking about?"

"Titans TV has just released its poll showing Beast Boy leading you 55 percent to 45 percent. Do you have any strategy for overcoming this maaaaaaargin?"

"Well I . . I don't know."

Argent turned toward the camera and stepped directly toward it. "Well, there you have it. Bumblebee, a campaign in disarray. For Titans TV, I'm Argent. Now back to our news center."

In the background, Bee could be heard shouting, "Disa-what?! Disarray?! Let me tell you girl-!"

The screen abruptly switched over to the beta testing version of Halo 7 as the Titans all glanced around at each other.

"Titans TV?" asked a couple.

"I told her not to say she was throwing it back to the news center until there is one!" whispered Speedy to Beast Boy.

It seemed like such a small thing, a report that she was probably behind Beast Boy in early polling. There were still 13 days left till the two party primaries. But without her air of inevitability Bee's campaign just wasn't the same. And there was another gigantic misstep to come. As part of her feeling that she was inevitably going to be running against Robin for overall leader, Bee said in an interview with Argent the next day that, just like Robin, she too had been under fire from Slade.

Speedy's ear's pricked up watching the tape of that sent to him by Argent. "We never fought Slade," he immediately told Beast Boy in his room, now the unofficial command center for the Beast Boy campaign, with stacks of polling data, position papers and disks with various titles like "Attack Robin", "Attack Bee" and "BB from B'hood cams".

"Are you sure, Dude?"

Speedy stared.

"Sorry. Sorry. Are you sure, Speedy?"

"Of course I'm sure. We never fought Slade at East. I mean, we fought a Slade bot once. Once! But it was a crappy early one, maybe a Sladebot 2.0 and I don't think it even fired at us. Aqualad knocked it apart with one punch. Just a second."

Speedy whipped out his communicator and dialed. "Hola, Mas! Your amigo Speedy! . . . . Yeah . . . . just uno question, pal. Did we ever fight Slade? . . . . . . No, I'm not loco . . . . . . right, right a Sladebot. That's what I thought and do you remember if it ever fired at Bee? . . . . . what's so funny? . . . . . . . . No! Really?! Oh man, I have to get that footage! . . . . Thanks amigo! . . . . yeah, yeah, si podemos, whatever."

Speedy immediately started making another flurry calls and before the afternoon was over he'd prepared a devastating response.

Right in the middle of Cyborg playing Halo 7 against Robin, the screen switched from showing their game to the exploding TITANS TV graphic.

"Oh come on!" shouted Cyborg. "I was on my way to a record score!"

On came an interview of Bee by Argent. Bee complained that Argent almost seemed to be favoring Beast Boy then ignored Argent's next question to make a seemingly pre-planned statement about how tough she was, She'd fought Slade, too, she said. She'd been fired at by Slade, too. The differences between them weren't in who was tough but style of leadership and she said she was confident the other Titans would choose here.

Argent signed off and Halo 7 momentarily returned to the giant screen. Cyborg shouted in pain,. His character was getting wiped out by others in the game who'd kept playing while hadn't been able to.

But after just another moment, the screen showed Argent again. This time she was in what looked like a news room setting with a giant TITANS TV title emblazoned over it.

"In the interview just played, the candidate for the Cool party's nomination claimed to have fought Slade, but is that true? Titans TV interviewed the twin speedsters, Mas and Menos to get their response."

There followed a brief interview with Mas and Menos who giggled at the idea that they'd fought Slade and said it was only a Sladebot and that Bee had never been fired on by it. Then they started dancing in place, which, at first perplexed Cyborg and the others. The next clip was crushing. With Argent's voiceover describing what they were seeing, the screen showed video from the Star City Mall as Aqualad punched a Sladebot so hard he sent it flying, literally knocking its head off and sending the body crashing into an empty arcade. Only a few seconds later did a miniaturized Bee fly onto the scene where some sparks from a damaged Dance Dance Revolution game showered over here and causing her to fire at it. She had fired at a Dance Dance Revolution game that was throwing off sparks.

The Titans watching all chuckled.

"A Dance Dance Revolution game and not Slade?!" laughed Kid Flash.

"Lookout, he's got a waltz and the charleston!" shouted Jinx in mock alarm.

The room cracked up. And that report was sent to every Titan's communicator. In Speedy's polling, Beast Boy picked up three more votes to take a 14-6 lead for the Cool party's nomination. Bee's situation was hopeless. She tried to fight back. She told everyone that Titans TV completely favored Beast Boy. She prepared an ad for Titans TV attacking Beast Boy who she couldn't believe Titans would actually pick over her. The ad asked who Titans wanted to be picking up a communicator late at night answering a call from Interpol or the president informing the Titans of an emergency. "Who do you want answering that communicator?" she asked.

In the end, it turned out that the Cool party members wanted Beast Boy to answer that communicator. When the Titans gathered two weeks after the day that Obama was elected, the green skinned changeling beat Bumblebee 14 votes to 6. Robin won the nomination of the Tough party, running unopposed, 18-0, fuming slightly at the two write in votes for "Batman" and "My Husband". He shot a quick glance at Kid Flash and Jinx who immediately avoided his gaze.

Amid all the congratulations, Robin and Beast Boy made their way through the crowd to each other and shook hands.

"Congratulations, Beast Boy. May the best man win," said Robin, thinking Beast Boy would snicker "I hope I do, too!" or something like that but the changeling surprised him with a solemn nod and repeat of "May the best man win."

It was on.