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life
itself. Am I right?” she asked knowingly. “There is more to life than campaigns
and elections, Jason.”
    “I
understand that.”
    “Do
you?” she questioned him.
    “Why
run if you aren’t willing to put everything into it?” he asked.
    Candace
took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “Everything? I’ve spent my entire
life in this world. I do mean my entire life. As early as I can remember I followed my grandfather at campaign stops. I
watched him press the flesh. I learned how to work a crowd. He was a master.”
    “Yes,
he was,” Jason agreed. “Most people think that he could have been president if
he’d wanted,” Jason said. Candace smiled. “So could you, Candy. It’s not only
me who believes that.”
    “Maybe
he could have been. He never wanted to. Maybe I could be. I’m not at all sure
that is what I want either.”
    “Why
on earth not?”
    “Because…There
are more important things in life than elections, Jason. At least, there is for
some of us. There are two kinds of people in this business,” she said. He
listened. “There are those who are in it to win it. It’s a competition. It’s a
challenge to be the best and come out the victor, to climb the ladder as high
as it can take them.”
    “And
the other?” he wondered.
    “The
other is a different breed. They enjoy the competition and they love to win.
There is exhilaration in the game of an election. There is also gravity at its
end. They fight for the right to serve. They are gratified by their victories.
They are even prideful. That is a necessity for survival in this business,” she
told him. “But, they are not arrogant. They understand their power is derived
from the flesh they press. At the end of the day, they are humbled more than
inflated by that fact. People matter more than positions, Jason. When you lose
sight of that, you lose everything,” she said.
    “No
one is questioning your integrity,” he said.
    “Wrong.
Everyone will question my integrity at some point, even you. Everyone that is, except
the people who love me. Me. Not Senator Fletcher. Not potential Governor
Fletcher. Not Governor Stratton’s granddaughter. Not the woman on the magazine
cover or the morning talk show. Me. Those are the people who matter the most.
My grandfather never lost sight of that. His decision to wage a campaign or to
quietly retire was steeped in that understanding. So is mine.”
    Jason
groaned. “I understand, Candy. I don’t see how this compromises that.”
    “I
know you don’t. You don’t need to. That’s not your job. Your job is to advise
me on how to maneuver in this campaign. It’s to keep the wheels lubricated. It’s
to coordinate and create positive momentum around my candidacy,” she said. She
watched as he began to speak and stopped him. “You will have to trust me on
some things. Someday, there will be no more elections for Candace Fletcher.
When that day comes, there will still be
three children who need their mother. God willing, there will be Jameson beside
me. That day might come in a year. It might happen in ten or twenty. It will come. All this will be a memory that is left in the
past. This is part of my life. It’s not my life’s foundation. That lies
elsewhere. Whether or not you believe that; I assure you it is the reason I
have made it this far. It is the reason I will win this election. It is the
reason I even have the courage to try.”
    Jason
shook his head and smiled ruefully. “I can’t say I agree with your decision,
but I hear you.”
    “Good.
Now, go find Dana and send her in here. You have a campaign launch to plan.”
    Jason
nodded and marched off dutifully. Candace took a deep breath when he closed the
door. “It’s going to be a long year,” she mused.
    ***
    Dana was leaning on the
corner of Susan’s desk when Jason exited Candace’s office. “I see you are still
in one piece.”
    “I
feel like I just got grounded,” he said. Dana and Susan laughed. “It’s