Power Page #9

I hate this.

You're going to do good, Phillip.

Real good.

- I've got an idea.

- What?

Instead of me trying

to impersonate a statesman,

when it's my turn to speak

maybe we should just...

...turn down the lights and run

"Mr. Smith Goes to Washington".

Now we're starting to move.

You could feel it

on our last trip.

You're framing the right message

and it's getting through.

Will--

I know this is a real bad time.

Could I have a couple of minutes?

Yeah, you're right, it is bad.

We're just on our way out.

Phillip, this is Pete St. John.

I've read about you.

Yeah. Hello.

We'll talk later, uh?

Look, I gave you two polls.

You can give me two minutes.

What did I give you?

What did you do with it?

I sold out! All right, Will?

I sold out!

He thinks because he won't work

for someone like Cade,

...makes everything okay.

It makes me a sh*t...

...and him, some kind of

a holy crusader. We're the same!

He got you this suit, right?

New haircut. Contacts.

And what you've been saying

has started to shift?

Have you softened anything

you were saying...

...before he came along

to help you out?

Hmm? Well, that's OK.

That's his job, to get you in.

Once you're elected, you can do

anything you want to do.

That sound familiar?

Look, I know I'm going to

hurt your feelings, but...

...you don't have a chance.

- You got a lot of gall--

- No, no, no, no--

It's OK, Wilfred.

I want to hear this.

You're a bright guy,

you teach college,

just can't be news.

You do not have a prayer.

It's just one of

those awkward realities...

...we don't say out loud

in front of the paying clients.

Instead of just going back

and teach History...

...why don't you go out there

tonight and make some?

You got nothing to lose!

Why don't you go out there...

...stand up and say

exactly what you think?

What you think!

Maybe even what you feel!

Not what the polls say,

or what Wilfred says, or what I--

Are you saying

I can't handle my client?

Wilfred, I'm not talking about you.

You're the best of all of us.

But it doesn't mean a damn

who's running the show!

- It's a show!

- What do you want to do?

Go back to the old days?

Like it was before?

Have the machines

put their boys in?

Is that what you want?

Have the newspapers in charge?

Have the "Los Angeles Times"

create another Richard Nixon?

If you want to walk,

just walk. Go ahead.

You sh*t on your own life,

not on mine.

Come on, Phillip.

We're irrelevant.

But you're staying.

Those people there sure as hell

aren't going anywhere.

Can you look at 'em and

say exactly what you feel?

I'm not saying you may not make

a horse's ass of yourself.

But, just the spectacle of

something human out there...

...may make hordes of people

come tumbling out of their homes...

...in a huge tidal wave of emotion

and vote for you.

You read the papers,

you got to know...

...there's a higher voters' percentage

in Bolivia than in the U.S.

I don't know, maybe they feel

connected to what's going on.

Maybe it takes too much

in America-- too much energy,

too much attention

to follow it all.

Maybe that's why they like to get

their candidates predigested,

prepackaged, like TV dinners.

I've become a very rich man

believing that.

Prove me wrong.

Hi, Pete.

Syd, come on.

We can watch from the booth.

As President of the Ohio

League of Women Voters,

I wish to personally

welcome you...

...to the United States

Senatorial debate tonight.

The order of opening

and closing statements...

...was determined

this afternoon by lot.

Mr. Aarons will give

the first opening statement,

followed by Mr. Westbrook

and Mr. Cade.

- Mr. Aarons.

- Thank you, Mrs. Bernhardt.

For those of you who still

don't know who I am,

I'm the guy for whom this job

actually means a raise in pay.

Ladies and gentlemen!

Ladies and gentlemen!

Ladies and gentlemen...

I would like to remind you...

...to please refrain

from any kind...

...of public demonstration

during the debate.

I, uh,

feel very uncomfortable

right now.

I feel uncomfortable

standing up here,

under all these lights,

trying to fit what I believe in

into a 180 seconds.

But more than that,

I feel uncomfortable with the job

of being a candidate.

With trying to convince you

that by electing me...

...to the U.S. Senate...

...you're going to get

a better job,

you're going to

make more money,

that your lives are somehow

going to magically improve,

because that's not

going to happen.

It's not going to happen

if you elect me,

or Mr. Cade

or Mr. Westbrook.

Therefore,

I am not going to ask you

now for your vote.

I am going to ask

that you listen to me...

...for the next few minutes, and

during the rest of the debate,

and then just think about

what I've said.

I think that, above all else,

our real problems--

chronic poverty,

shrinking resources,

are long-term.

But the solutions

we're being given...

...are designed to get

the politicians elected,

not to solve the problems.

Ladies and gentlemen!

Ladies and gentlemen!

Once more I remind

the audience...

...not to cheer or applaud.

You only take time away

from your candidate.

You only take time away

from your candidate.

Thank you.

Right now,

right here in Ohio,

why can't we be the first

to forget about the election?

And think past November.

And past next year. And--

maybe even beyond our own

lifetimes and begin to...

...really think about

the real answers.

If there is an early pattern

in this off-year election,

is that the voters...

...are sending a strong signal

to the politicians,

saying any politician

who takes them for granted...

...does so at his or her

own peril.

For instance, Senate races

in New York, Florida and Oregon,

had been predicted by the experts

as easy contests.

They're horse races.

Jim Hart, it's an hour or so

before the polls close in the West.

What do our exit polls

show us so far?

Roger, one contest in which

the experts appear to be right,

though it was exceptionally

bitter and hard-fought

and closer than expected, is the

New Mexico gubernatorial race.

Based on our numbers,

we believe that congressman

Frank McKusker...

...will wind up with about

defeating millionaire

Wallace Furman...

...who spend more than

an estimate of $5,000,000...

Wallace, I'm sorry!

Oh, yeah, Wilfred called me

last week.

Yeah? How is he?

Well, he was pretty upset

when he called.

Something about

you storming in...

...like the mad prophet of doom.

That's the way he put it.

He was pleased

you left Cade.

But he seemed, hum--

upset about something

you'd said to Aarons.

What did you say

to him, Pete? He--

wouldn't be specific.

The truth, I think.

Finally, all he had to offer

was himself.

Thank you. Based on our

ABC exit polls,

and early results from

key precincts...

...in the State of Washington,

we're now projecting...

...that incumbent Governor

Andrea Stannard...

...will win a second

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