Todd glanced at the clock on the microwave: 2:46. Volunteers would be coming around 3:00 for doorbell training. In the meantime he, Dakota, and Hubert were busy trying to keep endorsements from slipping out of their grasp. On the wall hung a sheet of paper with the names of the groups still up-in-the-air written on it. Almost half were crossed out, a third had a check by them, and the rest still needed to be called.
While Todd and Hubert sat on hold on their respective calls, Dakota paced the apartment. "Mr. Hornsby, I completely understand but… no, sir, but you see… wait, sir, please don't- dammit!" Dakota looked like she was going to smash her phone on the floor for a second. She took a deep breath before crossing over to the paper. She took a marker and put a line through the Animal Aid Alliance. She dragged herself to the kitchen to pour another cup of coffee.
"This is Elaina Clydesdale," Todd's line sprung to life with the voice of the President of the Program Opposing the Neglect of Youth, a children's rights group. They were not the largest group, but they held some sway with parents and teachers.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Clydesdale. This is Todd Renard. I'm calling to ask about the status of your endorsement of my campaign," Todd recited almost automatically at this point.
Elaina sighed. "You've put us in a tough spot, Mr. Renard. Several members of the board have major reservations about you, especially after the...incident on ZNN."
"Yes, of course," Todd said. "It was a simple case of misspeaking in the heat of the moment. The Turnbull message was sprung on us with no time to craft a response-"
"We realize this," Elaina cut in. "But there is still the issue of coming out publicly in support of you. We can't put our necks out for you for nothing in return."
Todd gestured for Dakota to come over. With her keen hearing, she'd be able to follow the conversation without putting the phone on speaker. "What do you want?" Todd asked Elaina.
"Here at PONY we have some improvements to the education system in Zootopia we'd like to see implemented. We'd like you to adopt them as part of your platform."
"You want me to promise to adopt your platform sight unseen?" Todd asked. Even Dakota looked hesitant at the idea.
"Do you not trust that our recommendations would be good for the children of Zootopia? Perhaps Mayor Nileworthy would be more amenable to our suggestions."
"W-wait. Please give me and my campaign manager a moment to discuss," Todd said. He turned to Dakota and set down his phone for a moment. In hushed tones he said, "We can't do this."
"I agree. What other choices do we have?" she said. "Any ideas?"
Todd's ears picked up after a moment of thought. "We promise them an advisory role in exchange for negotiating their platform." Dakota nodded at the idea. Todd picked up the phone again. "Mrs. Clydesdale, are you still there?"
"I am. Have you reached a decision?"
"I'm sure that your recommendations will be more than acceptable, but we cannot accept them without looking at them first. I'm sure you understand. You can email them to us and we'll discuss them after. As a gesture of goodwill, however, I can promise that I'll keep your organization close at hand for any issue dealing with children once I'm in City Hall."
There was a pause on the other end of the line. Todd's heart beat heavily as he waited to see if his plan worked. "That is acceptable. We'll send you our requests and discuss them with you on Wednesday. In the meantime, we'll keep your endorsement on the table."
"Thank you Mrs. Clydesdale," Todd felt a weight lift from his shoulders. Dakota gave him a thumbs-up.
"Thank you, Mr. Renard. Have a nice day."
"You too," they hung up.
"Good job," Dakota moved to the paper and put an asterisk by the name. Someone knocked on the door. Todd glanced at the clock: 2:55. The volunteers were arriving.
Half-an-hour later, all their volunteers had arrived and been trained. Mrs. Crevan, her daughter, and a pair of her college-aged grandchildren clutched stacks of fliers. A few more college students - the friends of Mrs. Crevan's grandchildren - made up more of the gathering. The students were split about 50-50 predator-prey. Beyond that, a few college friends of Todd and Hubert's showed up. All-in-all, about fifteen volunteers along with Todd, Dakota, and Hubert packed themselves inside Todd's shoebox apartment.
Todd maneuvered his way to the front of the group. "Before we begin, I just want to start by thanking you. Thank you for giving up your Sunday afternoon to work for free. Thank you for sticking with us despite the recent rough patch. Most of all, though, thank you for just being involved in the political process. It's mammals that get involved like you that make a difference in the world," Todd paused for a beat. "That said, let's knock on some doors!"
The door opened to reveal a porcupine in sweatpants and an old t-shirt. When his eyes met Todd's, the porcupine's quills bristled.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Quillman, my name is Todd Renard and I'm-"
"I know who you are," the porcupine said, curt and confrontational.
With some hesitation, Todd continued. "Well then you must know about my record defending animal rights. I want to-"
"You want to make predators on top of prey," Todd knew where this was going. "I know all about you. I read Breitbark. I know that Turnbull is the only candidate we can trust," the porcupine slammed the door. Todd let out a frustrated sigh and marked him as 'Highly Unlikely Support'.
"Good afternoon, Mrs. Voorhooves," Todd greeted the zebra at the door. The zebra's eyes went over Todd quickly, the door kept slightly between the fox and herself. "My name is Todd Renard, and I'm running for Mayor of Zootopia. How are you?" He handed her a flier, which she took after a moment.
"I'm...I'm fine, thank you. Yourself?" the zebra seemed to polite to say that she wasn't interested.
"I'm doing fine, thank you very much. I'm running to advance animal rights by strengthening the Mammal Inclusion Initiative. Is this something that interests you?" Todd was going to take advantage of this politeness.
The zebra hesitated for a second. "Well, to be honest, I think you go too far. The Initiative already privileges less qualified mammals over more qualified ones," Todd opened his mouth to respond, but the zebra continued before he could say anything. "But Nileworthy is a nobody and Turnbull is just...yeugh," she shuddered slightly at the name. "So I guess I'm undecided. I'll consider you, but none of you excite me."
Todd wasn't going to risk alienating her to explain himself. "Great, well thank you very much for your time. Have a great day,"
"You too," the zebra said as she closed the door. Todd attempted to be thankful for small victories and marked the zebra as 'potential support'.
The sun was just beginning to set as Todd arrived back at his apartment. His clipboard was covered with neutral responses. Todd tossed the clipboard and leftover fliers on the coffee table and flopped onto the couch. He closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Hours of work and what did he have to show for it? A few less fliers and not a single enthusiastic supporter. He heard someone set a mug on the coffee table by his head. He opened his eyes and saw Dakota with a cup of coffee for herself and a similar cup on the table for him.
"What's up?" Dakota sat in a nearby chair, her voice more compassionate that Todd had ever heard it.
Todd sat up. "Dakota, give it to me straight. Is my campaign dead?"
"Despite your best efforts, no. Not yet," she sipped her coffee. "How'd doorbelling go?"
"I barely got a response one way or the other from most mammals. It just seemed like they wanted me gone more than anything," Todd picked up his cup more as an automatic action than anything else.
"That's because they did want you gone," Dakota said. "If someone came to your door just as you were getting off work to bug you with something you didn't want to deal with, how would you feel? It's nothing personal."
"What's the point if all we do is bug them, then?"
"Let me tell you something. For every eleven doors we knock on, we create a new voter for you. That doesn't mean we convince someone to switch their vote, it means that someone who wouldn't have voted before is going to vote now, and they're going to vote for you. You can't see it now, but you will on election day," Dakota got up and walked to the TV. "Oh, I want to show you something," Dakota flipped on the screen. ZNN was on with a story about the election. "Oh good, it's on right now."
"In our first poll since Ariel Lionheart suspended her candidacy, Andrew Turnbull retains his top spot at 30% support among those polled," Peter Moosebridge began. "Mayor John Nileworthy follows at 25%. Despite a recent stumble in a ZNN interview, Todd Renard sits at third at 20%. In a distant fourth, Carlos Lupez finds himself polling at only 4%, many of his former supporters having turned to Renard and Nileworthy. 21% of voters remain undecided, and this turbulent race remains anyone's game."
Dakota switched off the TV. "If that doesn't convince you that we're still in this, I don't know what will."
A/N: Now featured on ZNN! .