The Ides of March Page #3

f***ing trees, l don't care.

For that, your college education

is paid for, period.

We do all of that right here.

No, sir, you don't, not all the way.

Do it all the way. Mandatory.

- Paul likes this?

- Mm-hm.

You're my brain trust.

The beauty of it is that everybody

who's over the age of 18

or pass the age of eligibility

will be for it.

- Why not?

- And all of the others...

Can't vote.

Too young.

Too bad.

You can't lose.

- Uh, Stephen?

- Mm?

- You have a call on Line 3.

It's your dad.

Okay.

You and Ben work it

on this stump speech.

and you'll get me a hard copy

and l'll write it in my own words.

- Don't forget you have Charlie Rose at 6.

- Right. Yeah. Why am I doing him?

It's long-form.

He's flying in.

Paul going?

Paul won't be in,

but Ben and I will take you.

Just don't tell me someone's died.

Hey, Steve.

- Who is this?

- Tom Duffy.

Sorry about the dad bit.

Uh... l just figured you wouldn't

want my name called out

at a Morris campaign office.

- What do you want?

- You got a couple minutes?

- I'd like to sit down with you.

- What for?

Well, l think it's important.

Well, if it's important, don't you think

you should be calling Paul?

I'm calling you.

This is on the up-and-up.

Steve, give me five minutes.

- I can't be talking to you.

- l hear you.

But, if you got five minutes,

I'm gonna be at the Head First sport bar

for the next couple of hours.

I can't, Tom.

There won't be anybody there.

Okay?

You get a chance,

there's something I wanna show you.

Paul, call me back. It's important.

You're working for the wrong man.

You are working for the wrong man.

Oh, on the contrary,

you are the one working

for the wrong man.

And you got something

the other guys don't have.

- Yeah?

- Yeah, what is it exactly?

"Charm" is not

the right word.

- It is the right word.

- No, it's more than that.

You exude something.

You draw people in.

All the reporters love you.

Even the ones that hate you

love you.

'Cause you play them like

the pieces on a chessboard

and make it look effortless.

And we both know

how hard it is

constantly being on guard,

weighing every word, every move.

But from the outside,

you make it look easy.

People are scared of you.

'cause they don't understand

how you do it, and they

love you for it.

And that is the most valuable thing

in this business.

The ability to win

people's respect

by making them mistake

their fear for love.

You can guess what

I'm gonna say next.

- I don't think that l can.

- I want you to work for us.

- What, are you kidding?

- No, not in the least.

- You're gonna lose Ohio.

- I am not.

Oh, you're sitting on about

a six percent lead in both polls.

Six percent

of all Democrats polled.

- Eight.

- No, six. Doesn't matter.

Ohio is an open primary,

right?

Independents and Republicans get the vote

on the Democratic candidate.

Do you think they like your guy?

- A pro-choice tax-and-spend liberal?

- No. F***, no. No, they hate him.

They think

they can beat my guy.

But they're very worried

about yours.

So starting tomorrow morning,

you're gonna see a f***ing blitz.

Limbaugh, Hannity,

all those right-wing blogs

are starting

a get-out-the-vote campaign.

It's started already.

Every fukin' conservative in Ohio

is gonna line up around the block

to punch my guy's ticket,

and that's just one step.

Ohio's gone.

Polls don't mean sh*t.

Tomorrow morning

everybody's gonna know.

And that's why I want you

to handle the fallout

that we'll have in the press.

Oh, and we got Thompson

in the bag too.

I know for a fact

that you don't have Thompson.

No, we promised him

secretary of state.

Ohio is over.

It has been over for weeks.

And now with

Thompson's delegates? Huh.

I'm thinking down

the road here, man.

That is why l want you.

- I can't do it.

- Bring you straight at the top.

- I can't do it.

All right. l don't need

an answer right this moment.

- Look, l've played dirty. All right?

- I'm sorry to hear it.

But I don't have

to play dirty anymore.

You know why? I got Morris.

No, no, none of this is about

the democratic process, Steve.

It's about getting your guy off.

- This is the sh*t Republicans pull.

- Yeah, you know what?

This is the kind of sh*t that the Republicans pull,

and it's about time we learned from them.

They're meaner, they're tougher,

they're more disciplined than we are.

I've been in this business

and I've seen way too many Democrats

bite the dust

because they wouldn't

get down in the mud

with the f***ing elephants.

- Paul's my friend.

- You Wanna work for the friend

or do you wanna work

for the president?

Think about it.

You got my number.

Paul.

Hey, they don't make quaaludes

anymore, do they?

Not that l'm aware of.

What's going on with

Thompson?

Uh, he wants something, but...

We'll be fine.

What was so important?

Nothing. Figured it out.

All right.

I'll be on my cell if you need me.

I fly to D.C. tomorrow,

back tomorrow night.

Okay. l'll work

on the quaaludes.

Good man.

Check the blogs and see if there's

any chatter, would you?

- Chatter? What kind of chatter?

- I don't know.

- Just see what they're talking about.

- Stevie, you still single?

I'm married to the campaign,

governor.

He's married to the campaign.

Good answer.

Wall Street Journal

has our numbers holding.

- Pullman dropped a point.

- Really, when did they do that?

- Checking now.

- Governor, the Wall Street Journal' numbers

are running Pullman's down a point.

Uh... we're moving

in the right direction.

Ben, are you still single?

- Married to the campaign, governor.

- Crack team.

Make sure Charlie Rose

has those numbers

before he goes on.

I'm on it.

Get a copy of the show

before we leave too.

Is it a difficult decision?

I have to believe it is.

Would I do it? No.

But I can't see myself

or anyone

certainly not a government,

telling a woman what she should do

with her body.

So, you would appoint a judge?

I would consider it

arrogant to judge anyone until

I've walked in their shoes.

- But you're against

the death penalty?

- Mmhmm.

Because of what it says

about us as a society.

Suppose, governor,

it was your wife.

And she was murdered,

what would l do?

It gets more complicated

when it's personal.

Sure.

Well, if I could get to him,

uh, I would find a way to kill him.

So you, you, governor,

would impose a death penalty.

No, I would commit a crime

for which I would happily go to jail.

Then why not let

society do that?

Because society has to be

better than the individual.

If l were to do that,

I would be wrong.

What about guns?

Isn't it time for a commercial?

- This is public television.

- We don't have any commercials.

That's unfortunate.

Where did you go after lowa?

California.

For Super Tuesday.

Oh.

- I had to go to New York.

- I know.

You guys needed a lot

more help over there.

Yeah.

So why politics?

Because the pay

is so good, obviously.

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