Sharky's Machine by William Diehl Page A

man in the South. And he doesn’t even give him a chance. He doesn’t think either one of you has a chance nationally. Doesn’t think you have the clout. You’ve stepped on too many toes. The insurance companies, the lobbyists, nuclear power. You’ve kicked a lot of ass, Mr. Senator.’
    Hotchins smiled. ‘And there’s still plenty of kick left in my good foot,’ he said.
    ‘But that’s where the money is,’ said Lowenthal.
    ‘We got the money,’ said Roan.
    ‘We’re talking big money. Big money.’
    ‘We have big money. And we have stamina.’
    ‘How about Carter?’ said Lowenthal.
    ‘Well, how about him?’ Hotchins said..
    ‘He’s going to run. I talked to his people last week.’
    ‘We can take Carter,’ Roan said. ‘He hasn’t got the charisma Hotch has.’
    ‘And he’s soft on some key issues. I know Jimmy. We get along fine. I like him. But we can take him,’ Hotchins said. ‘We can beat him right here in the back room before be gets started. I guarantee it.’
    Lowenthal nodded. ‘I agree. I think you can. But you’re going to have to beat him out of the gate and that means starting the race too soon. It’s dangerous.’
    ‘He’ll have to do the same. It’s a question of who comes out first. And we’re coming out next Monday,’ said Roan.
    ‘Next Monday!’ Lowenthal looked shocked.
    ‘We’ll lock the state before Jimmy gets out of bed,’ Roan said. ‘Then hit New Hampshire like the blizzard of ‘88.’
    Lowenthal shook his head. ‘You’ll be on oxygen before spring,’ be said.
    ‘No way,’ Hotchins said and the intensity of his retort surprised Lowenthal. ‘I can hop faster and farther than any of them can run on two legs. I’ve been training for this for too long. Let ‘em think we’ll burn out. Let Fitzgerald think so.’
    Lowenthal nibbled on his pipe. He was seeing a new side to Hotchins. Tough. Obsessed. A man who did not consider losing. Maybe he could do it. Maybe be just had the fever to do it. He decided to try another approach, another test. ‘Let me put it this way,’ he said, ‘You know how the National Committee works. They control party finances. They can also play hell with the convention, with delegates’ votes, simply by screwing with the convention rules. They browbeat, cajole, threaten, blackmail, call in favours
    there are a hundred ways they can steal committed votes.
    You could go all the way to the wire and see it vanish in a two- or three-ballot donnybrook.’
    ‘They tried it on Kennedy and got their ass handed to them,’ Roan said.
    ‘And Harry Truman,’ Hotchins added. ‘Talk about stamina. He whistle-stopped Dewey to death. We can do the same thing. To Carter, Udall, Frank Church, even Humphrey if we have to. We know all this. The question is, Do we need the committee?’
    ‘Academic question,’ Lowenthal said. ‘We don’t have ‘em, so why worry about it? Fitz’ll fight you all the way to the final ballot. I know him. I’ve been up against him before. He wants a winner; that’s the name of the game this year. And he doesn’t think you have a chance in hell. Look, you’re running, okay? You need money. If you’re a good party hack, they back you. If you’re a maverick, played by your own rules, voted against a few big party bills — which you have they run out of money just when you need it. So you can forget the committee for money and support. And it can get very lonely out there if the party strongarms are against you. They’ll throw everybody in the party at you in the early primaries. They may even quietly support some weak sisters to split the vote, throw it into a runoff. Make you spend more money. And what Fitz is looking for is for you to run out of breath in the stretch. He plays for longevity. Longevity is what counts.’
    ‘We’ll be waiting for him in New York come July,’ Hotchins said, with more than just confidence. The way he said it, it was a statement of fact.
    Lowenthal shook his head and