Primary Colors Page #9

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she goes up to 17.

Oh, my. Excuse me,

Governor.

I'm told we have Senator

Harris on the phone.

Hello. This is indeed

an honor.

Governor Stanton was telling us

his mother loves Las Vegas.

Does your mother have a favorite

vacation spot?

My mother's dead.

Oh. I'm sorry.

And Jack Stanton should be

ashamed of his scaring...

elderly people down here.

You mean about going

up to seventeen?

I don't follow you.

He's telling people I want to

cut their Social Security.

Larry, it's in your book.

You're playing sleazy

politics!

Izzi, can I speak?

Be my guest, governor. What am

I saying? You're are my guest!

Larry, I'm looking at your campaign,

page 18, paragraph 3.

It says you want to "study" a freeze

of cost of living adjustments.

That's one possibility. We might want

to rework how they're calculated.

Cost of living adjustments are

calculated to keep up with inflation.

I guess you don't like that.

-Wait! I don't say that!

-It's in your book.

I said it has to be studied.

Who knows?

We might want to spend more on

cost of living adjustments.

Senator Harris, Who is your

favorite comedian?

I'm just telling folks what

my positions are.

No, you're distorting my positions.

That's why no trusts politicians.

-You can't defend your positions.

-You're playing games.

Folks, we can't keep spending

money this way.

But you just said you might to spend

more on cost of living adjustments.

No, I, uh...

Excuse me. Now listen...

Excuse me.

What happened? Did he hang up?

Yes, yes. Well, so tell me,

Governor...

who's your favorite comedian?

-The phones haven't stopped ringing!

-It was fantastic.

We couldn't believe it when

Harris called. Could we?

He's f***ed. We'll walk

away with Florida.

Wait! Turn on CNN.

Senator Harris suffered

two heart attacks...

the first after a phone call with

Governor Jack Stanton...

during a Florida radio show.

Jesus.

-Oh, sh*t. We heard him having it.

-He remains in a coma.

His condition is critical. But hospital

sources will not comment...

on the Senator's condition

at this point.

It's difficult to say what affect this

will have on the campaign.

The vote's in 2 days.

What do we do?

Go back to Mammoth Falls. Daisy

pulls the negative ads.

I understand how

you feel, but...

We go back to Mammoth Falls.

I was so prideful, so

f***ing smug.

You couldn't have known.

We were going to win. I could

have been gracious.

I'm sorry. The man cuts a

vicious negative ad...

ambushes you on a talk show

and calls you sleazy...

and you're supposed

to be gracious?

Is Jackie okay?

He's fine. Go on. Don't

stop the meeting.

Harris is a smart man and he's

right about the damn issue.

The bastard rubbed your

nose in it.

And I rubbed his nose back. But

that's not how you win the big ones.

I don't know what to do now.

I guess I'll back tonight, address

the victory party.

Try to get Mrs. Harris on

the phone again.

She hasn't returned my phone

calls, but you can't blame her.

What do you think?

What the f*** were you

and Howard staring at?

Nothing. No one.

Bullshit. Who was that

woman with Susan?

It looked like Fat

Willie's wife.

Why is she worth staring at?

Henry, what the f*** is

going on here?

Nothing!

All right. All right.

Son of a b*tch! Amniocentesis,

you motherf***er!

-Susan, I'm sorry.

-When were you going to tell me?!

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

I know we wish Senator Harris

a full and speedy recovery.

I think the people of Florida will

understand if I forego...

any talk of victory or defeat... and

ask them to join me in prayer.

I know New York. Everything is

driven by the tabloids.

-Where's Henry? Daisy?

-I don't know. I flew in with you.

Brad, the New York numbers.

You're at 22% and Harris is

running at 18%, comatose.

-Sh*t, Henry.

-Sorry.

How do you think New York will

take the thing with Harris?

Well, Susan, I think first we have

to see if Harris is still in.

That's not very helpful. Lucille?

Well, if Harris is out and Ozio

doesn't jump in...

I say we win by default.

My God, this poor woman.

I want to thank all of you...

for your remarkable outpouring

of affection.

It's obvious my husband will not

be able to continue his campaign.

Fantastic! I mean, well...

you know what I mean.

We have asked our good friend

former Governor...

Fred Picker of Florida.

to carry on.

To continue to raise questions in

a meaningful, honorable way.

She's not too upset to

give us a poke.

Come on. Her husband may be

dying and she thinks Jack did it.

I turn the campaign over

to Governor Picker.

Excuse me. This is a rather

emotional time.

Governor, do you think you can

win the nomination?

Well, I'm not out to,

win the nomination.

I'm out to continue what

Senator Harris began...

to give Americans an honest

choice on the issues.

But if you won the nomination?

It's really premature to talk

about that now.

I haven't had time to

think about it.

What I have thought about is the

best way I can help Senator Harris.

As I know him as a man of

action rather than words...

the best action is for me to go down

and donate a pint of blood,...

because that's he needs now.

If you want to come with me

and donate a pint,...

Mrs. Harris would appreciate it.

Jesus Christ, we should have

thought of that.

Great goddamn move.

How do we run against this guy

if he not going to run?

Sh*t, he'll run. But till he announces

it he's the flavor of the week...

and golden. We just wait

until he comes out.

Lawrence Harris made several

negative spots.

His pollsters have advised more.

Will you go in that direction?

No. I won't be doing any spots

or having any polls,...

because I'm not paying

any pollsters.

I'm not hiring folks to tell me

what you're thinking...

or how to get at you.

Then what are you

going to do?

Just talk straight.

Jesus Christ. Who is this guy?

Let's not panic. He's as much as

admitted he's running.

So now we'll see some tamish

on the golden image.

The media giveth and...

go f*** yourself.

Governor, why did you quit

politics in 1978?

There were a lot of reasons. I

had personal problems.

This can't be easy to talk about.

No, it's not.

But I guess it's part of the game

now, so I'll be candid.

I got too wrapped up in...

being governor, and I began to

neglect my family.

My wife fell in love with

another man.

I quit, in part to see if I could

salvage my marriage...

but I couldn't. So then I just

wanted to make sure...

my boys knew I loved them.

I think if you ask them, they'll

say we made it through okay.

They're in college now and when Mrs.

Harris asked me to do this...

they were very enthusiastic.

I guess you could say...

I'm doing this for them, too.

Awesome. The best I've

ever seen.

What do we do?

Well, now we panic.

Hey, amnio man!

God, how in the hell did

you find out?

Loretta talked to a

schoolmate.

"A Current Affair" just offered the

McCollisters $250,000.

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