"Not bad work, trying to get the press on the story of why Hoynes is still in New York," Will congratulated Donna as they sat in the New York hotel suite together, watching CNN. It was just days before Super Tuesday. Donna had been throwing herself into her work with the campaign, and doing her best not to think about Josh, Matt Santos, overhead compartments, or anything else that might distract her. Hoynes had planned a California trip before Super Tuesday, but Donna had noticed that his campaign seemed to be delaying the trip. She'd pushed the media to investigate why, figuring that he was probably trying to trick the Russell campaign into canceling their California visit. Hoynes had a substantial lead in the polls in California, as well as the endorsement of the governor, and if they thought he'd also be campaigning there right before Super Tuesday…
"Yeah, he thinks he's so clever," she laughed. "But still, I'm not totally convinced it's the best use of our time for us to go down there. Hoynes has California locked up regardless of whether-"
She stopped talking and they turned their attention to the TV when the "Breaking News" banner flashed across the screen.
"Breaking news," Will scoffed. "I swear, they throw that banner up for any-"
His voice broke off when a picture of John Hoynes came up on the screen.
"Former Vice President John Hoynes' presidential campaign is being rocked today by allegations that he made inappropriate sexual advances towards a young female staffer when he served in the US Senate," the news anchor began.
"Oh. My. God." Will managed to get out.
Donna just sat there, dumbfounded, trying to absorb what this meant for the campaign.
"I guess it's a two-man race now," she observed.
"Who's the second man?" Will demanded. His voice was almost shaking. "Santos will be done after Tuesday. Hoynes is finished. Donna, Bob Russell is now the presumptive Democratic nominee for President of the United States."
They were interrupted as several other campaign staffers who had just heard the news burst into the room.
"Anyone got champagne?" Will called out.
"I'll get some!" A staffer responded.
"No popping champagne corks yet, Will." Donna told him, her voice unusually firm.
"Why not?"
"We haven't won anything yet."
"Donna-"
"You're right, Hoynes is probably done, but Santos is still in the race, and listen," she added, seeing that he was about to cut her off. "You have underestimated Matt Santos every step of the way. Ever since the day he announced you've been telling me that his campaign is finished, that he has no chance, that it's a waste of Josh's time to even be running his campaign, but guess what? He's still here. And where are all of Hoynes' supporters going to go if he drops out of the race? Do you really think it'll be to the Vice President? Most of them were for Hoynes at least partly because he was anyone-but-Russell, you told me so yourself. Will, Bob Russell isn't the presumptive nominee for anything. This is a wide open race now."
Will looked at her, the euphoria beginning to drain from his body. He knew instantly she was right.
"Okay, everyone, calm down," he announced to the room. "We can't get overconfident. Donna just made the excellent point to me that it may not be to our advantage to have Hoynes out. We have to make sure his supporters don't go to Santos. So get packed, everyone, we're heading out to California now."
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"You're a guy, maybe you can help me understand something," Donna said to Will as they packed up the hotel room to head to California. "Why do powerful men risk everything for meaningless sex?"
"It's not just men. Women cheat too, you know."
"Sure, but it's men you always hear about getting caught having one night-stands, or with mistresses, or hookers, or whatever. Maybe that's just because there still are more high-level men than women in politics, who knows? But anyway, why do these otherwise smart men, who have worked their whole lives to get where they are, who have poured their blood, sweat, and tears into winning elections, risk it all over sex? It's not like they don't know they could get caught. They've seen all the countless political careers ruined overnight because of a sex scandal. But they do it anyway."
"Men like sex," Will concluded with a shrug.
"And what's so wrong with having sex with their wives?"
"I don't know. People who run for office tend to have big egos, I suppose. And men with big egos like it when women feed those egos."
"Great. You guys really are animals, huh?"
"Well not all of us! You can't blame every single male for the fact that John Hoynes can't seem to keep his pants zipped."
"Sure I can," Donna gave him a smile as they headed out the hotel room on their way to the airport.
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"I'm sorry your name is in these stories," the Vice President said to Donna on the airplane on the way to California. "I realize you had no idea what this was about."
"Yes, sir." Donna nodded in appreciation. It did bother her a little bit that the media outlets all thought she had known about the story, and that had been why she'd pushed the question of why Hoynes wasn't going to California – that reason now appearing to be that he'd been staying in New York trying to keep the story from breaking. She'd already gotten a reputation as a bit of an "attack dog" following overhead compartment-gate (she'd given up trying to keep that name from sticking). Now half of the press thought her central role in the campaign was to dig up dirt on rivals.
Not that she didn't think the story was fair game. When Hoynes had put himself out there as the "family values" Democrat, she'd found it irritating, but she'd figured he was just trying to compensate for his known indiscretions. She'd supposed maybe it was smart, if not exactly sincere. But for him to go around preaching morality to everyone else, all the time knowing there were other scandals in his past just waiting to come out? It made Donna wonder how many other women there were.
And what if he'd gotten the nomination? The Democrats were going to have a tough battle against Vinick in the fall anyway. But Hoynes had fought tooth and nail for his party's nomination, knowing there was at least one new sex scandal that could break about him at any time. Probably more than one. If he'd gotten the nomination and these allegations had come out in the general election, he could have destroyed whatever chances the Democrats had of holding onto the White House.
She sat back in her seat and dozed for awhile, until she was awakened by Will.
"Good news!" he announced.
"The governor is endorsing us?"
"No, not quite that good. But the Vice President got him to agree not to endorse Santos either. We should be okay."
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"What the hell is going on?" Will demanded as they walked into the hotel lobby and caught a glimpse of the television in the lounge. The governor of California was standing at a podium. And Matt Santos was standing behind him.
"Don't tell me he's endorsing him after all," the Vice President fumed. "Damn it, he promised me he was going to stay neutral…"
He stopped talking when a red crawler appeared beneath the picture. "Breaking: Governor vetoes bill barring illegal immigrants from obtaining driver's licenses."
"Wow," Will let out a breath. "And Santos is supporting him on that?" He didn't know whether that was good news or bad. The bill was fairly popular, and opposing it could cost Santos votes. On the other hand, a picture of him standing behind the governor right before the election…
"It may not be an endorsement, but it sure has the appearance of one," Donna commented with a frown.
"It's not worth the political hit of publicly supporting the veto," Will argued. "Californians want that bill. Santos is going to regret this."
"Desperation," the Vice President concluded. "He has nothing to lose. He needs a comeback on Super Tuesday, or he's finished."
"And don't kid yourself, it could work," Donna cautioned. "He's just managed to align himself with the governor. And as far as the bill goes -- you know, a lot of Democrats are with Santos on this one. A lot of them hated that bill. They'll be thrilled to see a candidate willing to take a bold stand like this. The base will fall in love with him."
"The base was already in love with him." Will responded. "And Democrats want someone who can win. They know the Republicans will use this against Santos in the fall if he's the nominee. It'll hurt him, I'm telling you."
Donna gave him a look. "Who are you trying to convince, exactly? Me, or yourself?"
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"As the polls close in California, our network is classifying the race there as 'too early to call'…" the news anchor announced.
Donna and Will sat slumped in their chairs in the hotel suite where they were watching the Super Tuesday returns along with the Vice President and a number of campaign staff. Donna supposed they had no reason to be unhappy. They had already won New York and a number of other states. They had picked up a lot of delegates so far. But California was still very much in doubt.
"Even if we win, it'll be by the skin of our teeth," Will fretted. "It wasn't supposed to be close. The press will spin it as a victory for Santos no matter what."
"Yeah, but if we win, at least we get the delegates," Donna pointed out. "Momentum is nice, but I think we're getting to the point in the race where we need to start worrying about the Magic Number."
"2162," Will nodded.
An aide walked up to Will and somberly handed him a note. He read it, and then handed it to Donna without a word.
They had lost California.