Westman, Part II: The Rising

[Mechaman]

Presently
Outside the Vermont Hall of Hibernia:

Brisco: So Scott, what is the agenda today.
Westman laughs as he pulls out a Kamel Red and lights it with a match he had.
Westman: I want to accomplish something here today Desmond.  Something many think cannot be done.
Brisco looks exhausted.  The poor old man (he turned 84 a few days ago) had been in the midst of a very bitter Civil War with pro-business Republicans back home in Billings.  And now, he came up on request of Scott Westman for some purpose.  He knew that Westman strongly opposed Major Derricks, the incumbent Democratic Senator, and went as far as to tour Vermont to make sure he didn't win the nod.
So far it made some sense he guess.  His campaign start in the Irish neighborhoods of Burlington, the state's largest city, made very good political sense as that group had been by far the largest growing demographic in the state in the 60's-80's in the midst of the Great Troubles.  Further, there was a bit of a strong backlash among the working class and unions among them in regards to the DAA.. . . . especially given the amount of enforcement that was used against largely first generation immigrant unions and the like.
However, Westman's attempt to play ethnic warfare might come to bite him in the ass surely.  Now yes, it was common sense to get high levels of support from the Irish Catholic community in a New England Democratic primary.  Especially in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, or even New Hampshire that was practically the only way a candidate could win a Democratic primary. . . . . but in Vermont?  In maple syrup land?  Even after the high levels of immigration from the East Coast Derricks could still overwhelm Layton's support among the Irish by drawing independent and moderate support from crossover Republicans (Vermont is infamously known as an "Open Primary" state where anybody can cast votes for both the Democratic and Republican candidates on the primary ballot, something that helped Derricks win the primary in 1982 over a little known labor foreman named Paul Levesque) and non-affiliateds.
And assuming that Westman's gambit bid or whatever the hell you want to call it did work, he manages to get Jack Layton elected off of record high turnout among many first generation immigrants who probably have never even bothered to vote combined with some strong anti-establishment Democratic support, how the hell is Jack Layton supposed to be helped by being known as "Westman's man" against whoever the Vermont GOP nominates?  Vermont is a diehard Republican state, has been since the dawn of time almost.
Scott must be either insane or a genius if he thinks he can overthrow nearly a century and a half of one party rule with the exception of Governor Chris Garrett (who only got elected to two two year terms, the first he won by a mere plurality and the second he won barely a majority in a Democratic wave year) and Senator Major Derricks (who only got elected with 37% of the vote due to a bad Civil War between conservatives and moderates in the GOP).  As far as Desmond could tell, with the inevitable doom of the Constitution and Conservative parties coming as more and more conservatives and others drift to the Republican Party (the conservative third party movement was widely successful mainly due to support for Phil Crane early on as the only halfway competent candidate in 1980 and the nomination of a crazy pills man by the GOP in 1980), whoever the Democrats in Vermont were would be Prime Rib Roast this year.
However, don't tell that to Scott Westman who thinks he can somehow convince old school Yankee Republicans to drop their cultural allegiances (that are as air tight as his are to the Democrats) and ally them with the Irish Democratic working class to somehow get an electoral majority in Vermont.
Yes, that is literally what he thinks, based on the discussion we had earlier at lunch.
Brisco laughs.
Brisco: You really think this will work?
Westman: Umm yep.  Why not?
Brisco: Scott, these people are Republicans.
Westman: Yeah, so was my grandfather.  He was Chinese or some sh*t.  I can never really tell, I just know that eggdrop soup gave me the sh*ts.
Brisco: Yeah, and I'm sure the first thing people think of when they think Scott Westman is "harmless friendly Asian American fellow I'd really like to vote for!"
Westman: Will you shut the hell up about the sarcasm?  We need to cement our support behind Democratic voters-
Brisco:-you mean "Irish voters", don't you?
Westman facepalms.
Westman: Friend, you don't understand the concept as well as you think you do!
Brisco: No I understand it pretty damn well my friend!  You are going Curley 2.0 on these people and you expect to be taken seriously by Yankee Republicans!?
Westman puffs out some smoke.
Westman: You know it's just f***in hilarious.  You called me a damn stereotypist for about a decade now. . . . and you are pulling this old tired canard about how New England Republicans are all elitist snobs who will never vote for an Irishman?!  Amazing!
Brisco: Bullsh*t Westman!  Bullsh*t!  I'm just saying that culturally they are-
Westman:-world's apart?  But both groups have large numbers who have hearts broken in two over the economic calamity of this decade.  Yankee farmers cannot produce crop due to destabilizing crop prices.  Small town WASP towns are running out of money due to their jobs going to Big Business and Big Corporations in other states.  For far too long people have preached that the struggles of the poor Englishman and the poor Irishman are different.  They are not.  They are one in the same.  You of all people should know this.
Brisco threw up his hands.
Brisco: My apologies.  But surely you don't expect this old brittle man to deliver a speech or anything do ya?
Westman smirks.
Westman: No, just sit behind me as I ascend to the podium and give one of the greatest speeches of all time.
Brisco laughs.
Westman: What?
Brisco: You're so full of sh*t, you know that right?
Westman chuckles.
Westman: Maybe, but at least it doesn't hang too much to the right.

[Mechaman]

Montpelier, Vermont
Governor's Office:

Jim Jeffords: Why are we even spending money on this race?
Adviser Kevin LePage: Well sir, not many people buy your line about not supporting the Defend America Act.  Lawrence's team is doing a hell of a job convincing people that it is merely "triangulation" on your part to win the primary.
Jeffords: It's that Westman, isn't it?
LePage: Well, there are certainly a variety of actors working against you to be fair, but yes.
Jeffords: What with his regional tour?  The audacity of that cretin is astounding!  He just wants to discredit progressive Republicanism so that his party can take over!
LePage: This is a progressive ticket?  Could have fooled me sir with all your talk about balanced budgets.  We are not that different from Coventry, other than that mad fool wants to cut all pork and wants to surrender to the terrorists.
Jeffords: Yes, Coventry would be a lot easier to defeat than us, don't you think?
LePage: Well, he once railed against an agricultural bill on the grounds that it was "blatant agrarianism".  So that might work to our advantage if we can somehow turn the elitist label against him.  If Major Derricks does survive the Democratic Primary, he'll be at a massive disadvantage, having signed on the DAA and several other controversial pieces of legislation.
Jeffords: But what if Layton wins?
LePage laughs.
LePage: Oh come on sir!  The man is a mad dog socialist and outright Westman supporter!  No way he would ever win a statewide election in Vermont!
Jeffords: True, but there was a time when we thought that the state would never elect a Democrat to a statewide office.  Now look where we're at!  Now that madman is in Burlington, campaigning full time to stir up class warfare!  We don't need that in this state damn it!
LePage: Like I said, Layton's chances are nil.  He's slightly to the right of Robert Maguire, for crying out loud!
Jeffords: Oh yes, at least this isn't Maine.  I'm surprised that Kilkenny even attempted that land tax business.  Radicals the lot of them.  If only one of them were running for President.
LePage is oddly quiet.
Jeffords: What?!
LePage, who had been looking at all the internal polling for the past few weeks, knew that it was hopeless.  He knew that the Governor would more than likely firing him if he suggested the kind of policy positioning that would guarantee him re-election.  While "official" polls showed that Jeffords was polling at 55% and that Coventry was at 39%, he knew that in the months to come that those "undecided" votes would ultimately trend towards Coventry as civil liberty issues came to the forefront.  While the Governor did say he would not have voted for the Defend America Act, many Republicans were very cynical given his recent record on gun rights and drugs, positions that he have taken that were offensive enough to get rebuked by the ACLU on.  Vermont Republicanism was a very tricky thing, given that primary candidates had to find a right balance between affluent well-off "WASPs" and small town Yankees (a very odd lot indeed) to get victory.
Of course, things were much harder for Vermont Democrats (where do I even begin), due to the incredible party disorganization (due to never winning) as well as having to rely on very cynical coalition of urban laborers, ethnic Catholics, Jews, and other minorities to show up to the voting booth on election day.
He pitied Jack Layton, he was sacred of Lawrence Coventry.
LePage: Nothing sir.  Just a little hot in here.
Jeffords: Well then go outside.  It's March in Vermont, you should cool down pretty quickly.
LePage opens the door and goes outside, pulling out a pack of cigarettes.
LePage: These things will f***ing kill me someday.
Jeffords: Did you just say what I think you just said!?
LePage: I said this is a really nice breeze!
Jeffords: Okay!  Because it sounded like you just said the F-word!
LePage: (under his breath) oh blow me.
Jeffords: What!?
LePage: I said it looks like there won't be any snow.

[Mechaman]

Hall of Hibernia Speech:

Westman stands outside the hall in the cool weather and surveys the crowd.  Oh yes, home soil.
He claps his hands together, and begins:

"Good people of Burlington!

Today we stand at a crossroads.  Do we go with the same old same old?  Or do we take a new course?  A course into the future!?"

Loud Angry Voice: Are you going to just use a bunch of fuckin cliches?!
Another voice: Yeah!  GET THE FUCK OUTTA HERE!

Westman laughs as he throws a hand towards the loudmouths

"Yes!  See this is exactly what I'm talking about!  You've heard enough already, haven't you?"

Loud Voice: God yes!  Get off the stage your boring lace curtain motherfucker!

Westman throws out a finger.

"That's right!  See this!?  This is what Major Derricks has done to you!"
Sudden loud applause.
"I can talk all day about platitudes!  I can bring up the atypical diaspora bullshit that idiots use thinking they can get you to the polls!  But I won't!  Instead I come here with a rather uncommon appeal.  This election season you have two very distinct choices!  You can evolve or die!  Now you can make a difference, a real difference, by voting for a committed social democrat and civil libertarian who will stand up to Washington tyrants and autocrats!"
The crowd goes wild.  Apparently they didn't know Jack Layton was a social democrat.  OKay, this is off to a good start.
"But remember you are not alone!  There are many people in this state who both parties have turned their backs on!  Men, women, and children who have worked the land of this state since inception!  We must form a united front, whatever our ancestral differences, with these brave Yankee souls if we hope to steal the nomination from men like Derricks and Moynihan!  For far too long the Democratic Party has taken The Vote for granted!  For far too long the Democratic Party thinks it can win over a paddy with a few beers, a green clover, and a wink and a nod!  We demand real change!  We can ill afford to have men like Dan Moynihan, men who preach the very worst of religious bigotries while worshipping an altar of authoritarianism, to represent us!"
More cheering.
"Any Democrat who supports politics that continue to eviscerate our lower classes can no longer call himself a Democrat!  Any American who calls for the censorship of the independent organizations can no longer call himself an American!  And any paddy who calls for the destruction of third world nations in the name of the International Market can no longer call himself a paddy!"
Hats and sh*t get thrown around all over the square in front of the building.  The polls, which were low at first, would begin to show an marked increase among Democratic Primary polling.
Major Derricks nightmare was coming true.

[Mechaman]

Immediate Aftermath
Derricks Headquarters:

And thereupon stood Major Derricks, 6'1" with salt and pepper hair and a suit and tie, observing what looked like a conflagration of sudden applause and cheer.
Derricks: That's it?  What a weak speech!
Derricks advisor Peter Dupre: Yeah, seemed like a bunch of socialistic appeals combined with some good old fashioned paddy nationalism.  Most people gathered there were probably radicals anyway.  We can use this to our advantage actually.
Derricks: Oh, do tell good sir.
Dupre: Well, it provides a good opening to portary Layton as a radical socialist.  Further, Westman's blatant ethnic campaigning will allow us to keep high margins among less polarized groups.  We still have a massive advantage in name rec.  The only momentum towards Layton so far has been, well these angry Irish socialists and maybe a few Poles and Jews.  Most regular Vermonters, including many moderate Republicans, would like to see six more years of Derricks.  You are not exactly unpopular you know.
That much was true.  Derricks had a 43% approval rating.  Nothing to brag about, but still good enough for a Democratic Primary race in Vermont.  While the traditionally Republican Yankee farmer class could hardly stand the man he had a large base of support among middle/upper class Vermonters who saw him as a pragmatist against two dueling visions of Republicanism in 1982.  As it was the DAA (which he voted for) wasn't exactly universally unpopular in Vermont.  39% of state residents still approved.
However, that was largely due to the amount of people who don't bother voting or responding to polls.  Namely the large and growing class of working class whites who had settled here during the 1970s and 1980s who were avowedly left of center but don't bother voting due to the perception that the system is "rigged".  If they came out in full force it would allow left wing maniacs like Westman and Layton to dictate the direction of the party.
A thought that certainly unnerved moderate pragmatic Derricks.
Derricks: Very well.  Let us go with the "for all of us" ad.

[Mechaman]

1988 Super Tuesday Democratic Primary Results

Rolling into the 1988 Super Tuesday Primary schedule it was advantage Robert O'Sullivan.  Having bagged upset victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, the upstart former Secretary of State seemed to be on an upward climb as he started staking out a political positioning to the left of Mo Udall on civil liberty issues while also parlaying the image of a common sense moderate to siphon off Moynihan voters who might've been wary about the New York Senator's advocacy of the DAA.  Though Southern Democrats were long thought of as more conservative than the mean Democrat, the O'Sullivan campaign was confident that they could sell Dan Moynihan as an urban gun grabbing elitist who was too pro-Wall Street to win over poor whites, particularly in parts of Ozarkia and Appalachia.
To counter the momentum Moynihan's team devised one of the most brilliant strategies in modern political campaigning.  Capitalizing on his involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, Moynihan would make the case that an O'Sullivan presidency would "reawaken awful racial tensions" between poor whites and African Americans in the Southern states.  The campaign strengthened their position by attacking O'Sullivan for "appeasing to divisive influences" such as Montana Governor Scott Westman, Maine Congressman Rohan O'Drinan, and Boston Mayor Donatello A. Corleone who have often been accused of using "dog whistle rhetoric" in support of "radical" ideas.  O'Sullivan's lackluster support of Affirmative Action programs which benefitted non-white minority groups was also attacked strongly as being akin to a "Second Jim Crow".
This was ran alongside a vicious campaign against Mo Udall's Mormon faith, which the Moynihan campaign attacked as being "a vehicle of anti-black bigotry".  The tactic of attacking Udall's faith was strongly condemned by some fellow Democrats, namely Pennsylvania Senator Larry Watson, Colorado Governor Eddie Gerry, former US Senator George McGovern of South Dakota, and Governor Scott Westman of Montana.  Watson and Westman were particularly harsh about the Moynihan campaigns tactics, with Watson promising that he would vote against renominating Tobin MacMahon as the leader of the Democratic Senate caucus and Westman comparing Moynihan's "hate-filled rhetoric" to "the innumerable fire cross speeches delivered by evil Ku Klux Klan dragons and the mad dog rantings of the German National Socialist Party of the 1930s".  The Montana Governor, who was actually in New England at the time, made a point of stomping in heavily Catholic neighborhoods to deliver his strongly worded condemnations of Moynihan's "anti-American tactics".
Unfortunately, Westman stomps were actually turned into a political weapon of the Moynihan campaign, with ads being churned out that capitalized on black distrust of politicians like Westman who had a questionable past with the black community.  Senator Watson, who was among the most popular Democratic politicians among the black community, was virtually ignored by the Moynihan campaign.
The strategy caught many by surprise, given that many blacks in the South were registered Republicans.  However, several of the states had adopted "open primaries", primaries that allowed voters to vote in both primaries regardless of political identification, which would allow black Republicans to vote in Democratic Primaries.  A great irony, as such legislation was passed by Republican lawmakers in those states to gain crossover Democratic support in battling the then dominant Constitution Party.  Now it would be used to get Republican voters to influence the results of Democratic Primaries.
In addition, Moynihan would also hit O'Sullivan hard for pandering to "radical elements" and playing up some of O'Sullivan's socially liberal positions to distance him from poor whites.  While less successful than his black outreach, it would impact the Super Tuesday results.
Udall, whose campaign was floundering ever since O'Sullivan claimed his upset victory in Iowa, decided to stick by his guns until the Super Tuesday primaries were over.  Political historians say that Udall's decision to stick in past Super Tuesday had to do with him feeling it necessary to put up a strong front for the liberal wing of the party.  Given the areas of agreement with O'Sullivan, it is possible that Udall wanted to have influence over who the Vice Presidential nominee would be in 1988 and that quitting after New Hampshire would've destroyed any impact he could have on the nomination process.
At the end of the day, Super Tuesday was a Moynihan wash:

Out of the 13 states that were up for grabs, Moynihan won 10.  The scope of the victory allowed Moynihan to take a very strong and decisive lead over O'Sullivan.  Almost overnight the mood of the election changed as Moynihan now held a lead in delegates that was almost double O'Sullivans.  On top of Southern successes, Moynihan would also win in the New Jersey primary, the only "northern primary" of the day.  O'Sullivan would score victories in Tennessee, Kentucky, and West Virginia where he actually did better than polling expected.  However, the day was ultimately Moynihans.

It was on the cusp of these results that Udall would finally give in as his campaign was left with little cash and little hope. . . . . . . . .

(state by state results to come later).

[Mechaman]

1988 Super Tuesday Republican Primary Results:

Unlike the Democratic Super Tuesday, the Republican Super Tuesday Primaries were more diverse in geographic region.  6 of 13 contests were held in "Southern" states while the rest were in regions outside the South.  This schedule was established to provide "balance" between northern and southern Republican interests in the Primary season as opposed to the Democratic Super Tuesday which was deliberately setup to disadvantage the more liberal candidates that would come off as unappealing to southern voting groups.
Noting Keating's upset victory in New Hampshire, Percy's campaign would shift gears to address Keating's law and order focused campaign.  The Percy campaign would take a very dynamic approach, touting it's pro-law and order credentials in conservative leaning areas while stressing it's civil libertarian stances in liberal leaning ones.  Mainly, Percy's campaign was taking on a more pragmatic and moderate tone in contrast to Keating's more bombastic take no prisoners approach.
The days leading up to the Super Tuesday primaries was also when Percy would attempt to distance himself as much as possible from comparisons to Scott Westman, whose "No True Democrat" speech was seen as a statement of full blown pacifism.
The Keating campaign, noting the "flip-flopping" of Percy's campaign, would take the charge against what many critics derided as Percy's "moderate heroism".  As the Oklahoma Senator famously said at a campaign stop in Chattanoga "The Illinois Governor doesn't know if he wants to kill or kiss the Westmanites!"  While this worked at first, as polls showed Keating maintaining his momentum from his New Hampshire victory, it would backfire badly when Robert Percy would rebut the charges of "flip flopping" thoroughly at a debate between the two in Jackson, Ohio:

Percy: So Senator, I am confused.  You say I flip flopped on national security?
Keating: Yes, yes I did.
Percy: Please enlighten me how my support of fast track trials of terror suspects violates my previous statements on the matter.
Keating: Well, you are trying to evade the question by using a narrow example.  I meant more in line with your statements on protecting our borders-
Percy: You don't mean my earlier stated position that I support expanding the US Border Patrol by 10,000 men, do you?  I fail to see how my most recent statements of supporting troops buildups along the Canada border is a sudden flipflop?
Keating: Alright, whatever, but you also changed your position on crime.  Suddenly you're tough when before you wanted to be a compassionate ideali-
Percy: Again let me stop you right there.  I have not gone back on my position that the secret service portion of the Omnibus Crime Act was excessive.  At the same time I have since 1981 supported a national ban on assault rifles and other deadly guns used to carry out mass murder.  I've even supported increasing funding in our fights against South American drug cartels. . . . as early as June of 1979 when commenting on the heroin epidemic in South Chicago when I was the Attorney General of Illinois.  And further, I support cracking down on the criminal and illegal relationships between political machines and their organized crime allies.  Please enlighten us all on when I became a peace loving dove who wanted to give free drugs to welfare recipients, because I have one of the most pro-law and order records of any candidate to have run in the past thirty years.
Keating: You should forgive us Mr. Governor, your campaign before New Hampshire certainly indicated a man who was sympathetic to radicals.
Percy: I shudder to think of a time when being an adamant advocate of a strong yet fair and constitutional enforcement of our nation's laws makes one a sympathizer to socialist radicals, Senator.
(crowd applause)

The effects of the debate moment would be felt as Percy's polling would jump to ten points over Keating, beating the OK Senator in 5 of the 7 "northern states" and even outpacing Keating in a couple of Appalachian states.
More to the point, Percy had managed to change the public perception of him as a bleedingheart borderline liberal Republican into a strong pragmatist who disdained the politics of radicalism.
Super Tuesday was not a decisive victory for Percy, but it definitely stopped dead Keating's momentum:

State by state results to come later.

[Mechaman]

"I Told You So."
By Hunter S. Thompson
Rolling Stone Magazine issue first week of March

There has been much ado made of the sudden law and order hawking of one Robert Percy, the leading Republican for the presidential nomination.  Up till now national media and the like have portrayed the "moderate" Republican Governor as some sort of full fledged civil libertarian dove who would end the recent string of rampant liberty abuses by the Crane Administration and stand up to the establishment Democratic leadership that was touting the Defend America Act like it was the cure for cancer.
May I just say "I Told You So"?
You see, when this editor first brought up Percy's vehement law and order stances in his long and storied career as an Illinois Republican lawmaker who made his name by cracking down on "political corruption" and "getting tough on druggies" readers from all over the country balked at my presumptions.  Self-professed "liberals" who bragged about converting to the Republican Party in the past decade in a vain attempt to cloud out the influence of reactionary Cranites literally condemned me for my apathy at a the prospect of a Percy candidacy.  Everybody and their grandmother insisted that there was just no way, just no way that Percy would appeal to law and order hawks in his own party to win against Keating and that he would have a very ironic coalition of businessmen and stoned "Manson for President!" Marxists for a weekend voting for him.
May I just say "I Told You So?"
It seems that there are a number of very naive people who seem to believe that Republicanism suddenly became about defending minority rights, protecting civil liberties, defending the right to due process, and opposing imperialistic ventures.  Such naive people have seemed to have forgotten that because of Republicans in the past forty years we have:
1) the death of any real collective bargaining power thanks to the Taft-Hartley Act of 1948.
2) one of the most ridiculously corporatistic tax structures in modern history.
3) Naziesque gun bans in 31 out of 50 states.
4) Barbaric drug bans in 43 out of 50 states.
5) we have more men of color in prison than at any other time in our nation's history.
6) started wars of convenience that killed millions in "collateral damage".
7) censorship laws that would make Mao blush.
expansion of our nuclear arsenal beyond any sane reason "just in case".
9) the vicious gutting of our social welfare state to help fund retirement for rich oil executives who don't need it.
10) the continued militarization of our local and state police forces.
11) the almost total and complete evisceration of individual liberty.
12) "cost control" laws that have effectively reduced our "Public Healthcare system" to a bare skeleton of what it was just a decade ago.
So yes, once again "I Told You So".
Woe be to the fool who thinks that a vote for Percy will end decades of unchecked authoritarianism and creepy corporatocracy.  Woe be to the fool who believes that voting for Percy will undo the Reagan era court rulings that have allowed the intelligence agencies of this country to literally have the ability to murder American citizens without trial.  And woe be to any fool who believes that voting for Percy is a vote that is remotely in favor of increased rights.
To those who might label this editorial as a partisan hack attack piece, consider that this same editor let loose a righteous criticism of President Reagan and even the esteemed former Secretary of State who suddenly is trying to triangulate himself as a massive freedom fighter who calls Scott Westman "his good friend".  Or perhaps we have all forgotten that it was because of some handsome haired pearly white grinning Boston Boy with a fake tv accent who advocated using "increased police action" in Venezuela to combat the influx of cheap crack into our urban areas?  Or how about the same O'Sullivan who believed that the only way the end corruption in Russian politics was to "gulag the shit out of Moscow"?  Or how about the same Robert O'Sullivan who said he trusted the jackbooted Michael Hastings regime in the UK to take "a calm and measured approach" to the unrest in Northern Ireland?
I must say, in all my years of covering politics I have never seen such shamelessly devious tactics to win an election where more and more Americans by the day are calling for the total and complete repeal of der Reich's "Defend America Act".  Which brings me to my big question: If men like Robert Percy and Robert O'Sullivan are the "heroes", just how fucked are we?

[Mechaman]

April 18th, 1980
Washington D.C.
Westman Senate office

Westman: Wait a minute, what do you mean you need more money?  Isn't your dad a damn billionaire?
Westman couldn't believe his ears.  It was like all the women in his life expected him to be a never ending source of money.  Even the ones he wasn't boffing.
Helen Brisco: Look, I can't go to my father.
Westman: You f***ckin serious?
Helen: Yes.  Look, he has this thing about not loaning money.  He believes it makes people too dependent and not self-reliant enough.
Westman laughs.
Westman: You f***in Republicans, let me tell you.  Putting on a brave fiscally responsible face to the public but you can't even pay your damn electric bills without help from your neighborhood Democrat!
Helen: You would bring politics into it.
Westman: I'm just saying that maybe if electricity was owned by the public, this sh*t wouldn't be happening.
Helen: Oh yeah, just nationalize coal?  What a great idea!
Westman: No no no, I was thinking more like nationalizing geothermal or solar or something.
Helen: You really have no idea what you're talking about do you?  Jeez, I knew you were dating a supermodel Scott, I didn't realize that she was rubbing off on you.
Westman: Hahaha oh no she is not.
Helen gives a disgusted laugh.
Helen: I don't mean that you nasty old man!
Westman: I would hope you weren't.  I'll have you know that our sex life is a very healthy one and I am a very generous and caring lover.
Helen giggles.
Westman: You got such a dirty rotten mind Helen.
Helen: Irony.
Westman: Whatever.  I'm not the one calling asking for $10,000!  What the hell do you need that much money for anyway!?
Helen: Look, Daniel knows a guy who knows a guy who says that if we can front him $10,000 he can make sure our shares almost double overn-
Westman pops open a drawer with a baggie in it, throws some white dust onto a piece of paper, and then snorts it.
Westman: Doll I'll be honest, sounds like your friends are trying to get you involved in a scheme.
Helen: Not it's not!  Look, we just give these guys the money and they give us the goods to sell while they give ad revenue to their bosses-
Westman: YES! just like a Pyramid Scheme!  I might be an idiot a lot of the time Helen, but I know a world about finance.  And this has SCAM! written all over it.
Helen: While you are just bursting with excitement at the moment.. . . . how about I fly over tomorrow morning and explain it better with a few graphs and charts they gave me-
Westman: oh wow charts and graphs!  They really know their stuff (snicker)
Helen: Assuming you have either reached a climatic state of enlightenment or have agreed to see me I'll be coming over tomorrow on a five o'clock out of Billings International.
The hit is over.
Westman: If you want some f***in money, you should've just asked for it, you whore.
He hears the phone slam against the cradle on the other end.  He then slams his into the cradle.
Westman: I guess I'll see you tomorrow.

EDIT: Previous version was practically porn.  This has been rewrote for the narrative off the story.

[Dr. Cynic]

Am always happy to read more on this.

[Mechaman]

April 19th, 1980 cont.
Robert F. Kennedy International Airport
Washington D.C.
Around 9:30am

Westman: I'll have a Molotov Cocktail, shaken not stirred.
The bartender laughs.
Bartender: A little hot under the collar today are we?
Westman puts a couple of ones on the bar in front of him as the bartender puts a rum and coke in front of him.  Westman gives a displeased grunt.
Bartender: Sorry boss, I heard you was a rum and coke man.
Westman: I need something a bit stronger today.
Bartender: And what would that be?
Westman: Do you know how to make Romulan Ale?
The bartender chuckles before pulling five different liqour bottles from below the deck along with a 12 oz glass.  He pours four of them in at once before topping it off with the fifth flavor.  He mixes it all up as the liquid turns blue.  He slids it across to Westman, and silently nods.
Bartender: Signor. . .  my complements.
Westman takes a hard and quick drink.. . . . . . . . and suddenly feels the buzz.  He slams down the drink, causing a little bit of it to fall out onto the counter.
Bartender: Well geez Senator. . . . take it easy will ya?  This sh*t ain't cheap!
Westman: Oh come on it's just one freaking glass.  Besides, I need a quick fixer for this meet.
Bartender: What's the occasion?
Westman sighs.
Westman: Some woman who I ain't slept with yet wants money from me.  Lots of money.
Bartender: Gee Senator, I knew you had a problem but I didn't realize it was illegal-
Westman: She ain't a hooker wiseass.
Bartender: Oh, well I was kind of fooled by the part where you said you ain't slept with her yet.  So if she isn't a working gal, then why are you giving her money?
Westman: Who knows man, who knows.  Women are always taking my money.  It's like the only thing free I get from them is the sex.  Though really if you think about it, in the long run how different is it?
Bartender gets himself a drink.
Bartender: True, true.  So, how are you going to win re-election?
Westman laughs.
Westman: Sh*t boy, that is two years away!  I don't want to think about that now!  The damn primary is giving me enough stress!
Bartender: I mean sh*t, you been nailing every freaking hot broad in this city.  I know there was a sexual revolution and that kind of thing is normal now days, but you public boss.  Public can't have what public wants.
Westman lights a cigar.
Westman: What bullsh*t good sir.  I am not doing anything different than the majority of the US Senate does.  I'm just open and upfront about it.
Bartender: And there ya have it Westman.  There are certain rules in politics.  Number five or so is "don't be open about the non-open."
Westman: Hey how about you go screw yourself buddy?
Bartender: sh**t son, when was the last time you went to mass?  Much less confession?
Westman laughs.
Westman: Waste of freaking time man.  I ain't been in one since last time my daughter came here.
Bartender looks at hiim weird.
Westman: What's so surprising about that?  I wave this thing around like a freaking submachine gun.  Why wouldn't I have a kid?
Bartender: Nothin, I guess it makes sense.  How old is she?
Westman: I think she is sixteen.
Bartender looks shocked.
Westman: I started bushwhackin real young.
Bartender: Well I'll be, I never figured you for the fatherhood type.
Westman chuckles.
Westman: Ha, neither did I.
Bartender: So your gal is like 16 years old?
Westman: Yes.
Bartender: How does she feel about you nailing 18 year olds?
Westman laughs.
Westman: She doesn't really say, although her and Cal get along great.
Bartender: You know that is one fine senorita you bagged Senator.  If I were in your shoes I don't know how I would leave bed.  Those legs just look so inviting.
Westman: Which is why I am US Senator and you are not?
Bartender: A right comedian you are!  So how is she?
Westman: Oh she's got a great ass!  A great ass!
Bartender Oh yeah she does look a bit fit.  A bit crude though, going that route?  I mean I know how open a lot of couples are now days, you don't want to accidentally get the GRIDS y'know?  I imean I'm just saying I wouldn't want to do it the way f****ts do it.
Westman looks uncomfortable.
Give yourself a break dude, how else are you going to do it?  It's like Thad said, IMPROVISE!
Yeah try explaining that concept to the bartender.  That should be a real laugh riot.
Westman: You know, I tried doing it old fashioned once but ugh it was just real disgusting.  She has like a mutation or something down there.
Nice save bro.
Bartender: Well, there are a million fish in the sea.  I'm just saying I'd feel weirded out with a gal with a mutated-
Westman feels a hand on his shoulder.  He turns around and there she is.
Westman: Oh thank god you're here!  This crazy guy is going on and on about mutated women!
Helen chuckles.
Westman: Alright, now follow me to the Conference Room.  Where is this presentation of yours?
Helen laughs.
Helen: Oh that silly thing?  Oh I made that up.
Westman looks at her, shocked at what he is hearing.
Westman: What?
Helen: I knew that something dealing with money would get your attention.
Westman looks her up and down.
Westman: Well with that courdoroy jacket and those flannel pants you really had me going there Miss Brisco-
Helen: Excuse me, it's Mrs. Weathers.
Westman shoves the rest of the drink down his throat.
Westman: Well sh*t, you could've fooled me with the way you pranced over here.  So does Mr. Weathers know you're here?
Helen: Yes he does.  And no this isn't what you are implying.
Westman: Well then why did you lie?
Helen blushes.
Westman: Unfreakinglievable.  Bartender, get this woman a Romulan Ale.  She's going to need some well needed resolve for today.

[Mechaman]

Still at the airport:

Westman is sitting at the bar with Helen.
Helen: I know what this looks like but forget it.
Westman: Oh and what is that?
Helen: Don't play coy with me Senator.  You're not opening my docket today.
Westman: You got a docket?  What kind of bill ideas you have?
Helen sighs.
Helen: Gawd, you are impossible.  I.  AM.  NOT.  GOING.  TO.  SLEEP.  WITH.  YOU.
Westman gets a sudden look of realization.
Westman: Oh right.  Well that's alright babe, we won't be doing that much sleeping.
Westman moves his hand up Helen's thigh as a creepy smile envelops his face.  She playfully removes it.
Helen: Look, seriously I need someone to talk to.
Westman looks peeved.
Westman: So you flew all the way to Washington D.C. and decided to hog what would otherwise be a very productive workday for the people of our state, without the promise of a good siesta, just to talk.  Don't you have any friends in Montana?  Woman?
Helen: Well, I wanted an excuse to get away from work.
Westman takes another drink.
Westman: Fair enough I guess.  Work, who needs it!?  So what is it now doll?  Marital issues?  I can help with that-
the sound of a loud slap on the hand is heard.
Helen: I knew I should've expected this!  Have you no decency, Mr. Westman?  What would Calpernia think?!
Westman: She would ask how your bacon is.  Believe it or not not all of us are prudes.  That and she really likes cooking.
Helen: Unbelievable.  NO I AM NOT GOING TO SCREW YOU, YOU HORNDOG!  NOW WILL YOU LISTEN TO ME DAMN IT?!
Westman: Okay gee, relax relax okay?  Let me guess, things not going so well with oh Fred?
Helen: His name is Daniel!
Westman: Oh right, I knew it was something faggy.
Helen: You got like no filter do you?  Just out in the open with your flagrant jealousy!
Westman: At least I'm honest.  So spill it out already.
Helen: I want a job in DC.
Westman laughs.
Westman: Unbefreakinglievable.  Doing what?  Fetching some randomass congressman his coffee?  Kid you should've been doing this years ago.
Helen: No, I want into one of the firms.
Westman looks at her with a look of incredulity.
Westman: You do know that your husband has his own sh*t to do in Billings, right?
Helen: Yes I do, but we can make it work.  He's been talking about furthering his law schooling out east and with his family connections-
Westman: Oh right right right.  Well, I'm sure Bob Taft could probably help you find a place, given that you do him a favor.
Helen: I don't have to sleep with him do I?
Westman looks at her, blank eyed.
Helen: I'm sorry, DC I make assumptions.
Westman: He's a freaking Taft for sh*t sake.  I'm not even sure he has sex with his wife anymore. Anyway, they could always use more lawyers with as much litigation their team is getting now days.  I will put in a good word and you might, emphasis, hear back from them in a week's time.  So what now?
Helen: I guess we can go have lunch or something.
Westman: Sounds good I know this bar. .. . . . . . .

[Mechaman]

At another bar
Somewhere in Fairfax, VA area
Noonish

Helen is looking at Westman intently.  Westman looks back at her and chuckles.
Westman: See, you come all the way down here "just to hang out" with me and are so insistent that you won't sleep with me, and then you spend a couple of minutes grinning at me like that.  Seriously babe, my townhouse is a few streets down.
Helen laughs before throwing a straw at him.
Helen: So, how many kids do you really have?
Westman pounds the table.
Westman: You sure as hell know how to pick appropriate dinner time conversation.
Helen: Sorry, I meant no disrespect.
Westman: That's quite alright.  You're being cautious.  I like cautious women.
Helen laughs.
Helen: Sh*t, you are impossible.
Westman Do you want the truth?  Well alright, I got at least six.
Helen looks thunderstruck.
Westman: Is the idea of a man using his equipment really that shocking?  I am 34 going on 35.  I've been breeding since I was like 18.  Really, I'd be surprised if there is only six.
Helen: Gee Scott, that is really high.  Have you ever heard of birth control?  Or condoms?
Westman: Condoms?!   Why don't I just wrap myself up in a sock while I'm at it?  I mean jeez woman, it is called "sex" for a reason!  I'd like to boff the woman, not a latex wrapper!  Besides, the Pope says it is like sinful to use condoms or something, and that's just good enough with me.
Westman had expected Helen to look disgusted.  But she actually looked kind of intrigued.
Helen: Forgive me for asking these questions.  It's just. . . . I can't have children.  The doctors say I have a dead uterus or something.  Whatever the case, I can't have 'em.  Kind of sucks.  You must enjoy having seeing your kids, funny I have only heard of two of them.
Westman gulps.
Westman: For good reason.  I don't really keep in contact with them.  They are under the delusion that another man is their father.  Or at least, their mothers are too ashamed to admit their origins to them.  Three of the mothers have been married since.  One of the kids lives with her grandmother.  And yet another is oprhaned.
Helen: Orphaned?  You mean. . . . . .
Westman: Her mother was a girl I knew real well in college.  We spent many nights together getting drunk and high.  This was when I was still married, so yes please go ahead with your awful judgments.  Anyways, this girl got me hooked on cocaine which I might add is a bitch to beat.  Life was hell with Catalina back then, she couldn't understand why I spent so much time at this girl's apartment and she seemed resentful of my relationship with her.
Helen laughs.
Helen: Well I could imagine!  Do you have any sense of monogamy?
Westman: Well Catalina was like all depressed and sh*t at the time-
Helen: And you think the fact that her husband was nailing half the girls on campus and spent half his time getting high might not have had something to do with it?
Westman: Well maybe you are right.  Maybe I am not some flawless human being, okay?  Everyone has needs though. . . . .
Helen: Yes, like some women need guys who don't mess around.
Westman: Did you want to hear about my kid, or provide a morality tale?
Helen: I am sorry but you make it so easy sometimes.
Westman: I guess so.  Anyways this girl, oh man she was just so perfect.  About 5'6", brunette, 115 lbs, 17, the perfect age (could've been describing me if he left out the part about her being 17).  But then she got hoked on the crack rock.  Like big time.  The baby. . . . . . had issues.  She had really bad shakes when she was younger.  By the grace of a higher power she has stopped shaking, though I wonder if she will ever nave the chance to live a normal life or if she is destined to life as an orphan.
Helen suddenly felt outraged.
Helen: Why don't you adopt her!  You have no problems with Brea staying with you!
Westman mulled over what she had said.
Westman: Catalina wanted nothing to do with the child.  She made me promise I would help fiind a place for the child and then nothing more.  The little girl just had too many bad memories for her.
Helen: And when was this?
Westman: July 1968.  Before I went to prison for assautling an officer.
Helen: And Catalina has been dead since 1970!  You seem to think romantic relationships are like a joke or something, yet you have kept to your word on this?!
Westman laughs.
Westman: Doll you make me sound so heartless.  Believe me if I could I would've taken the girl.  But, even after I got elected to the Senate, no sane orphanage would allow me to adopt any kids.  You have to remember, I have the reputation as "Senator Kiddie Lover".  Nobody will allow a man who had even consensual relations with like 17 year old girls adopt 12 year old ones.  It right pisses me off.  I would be a better father to her than the State.
In a moment that shocked Helen Brisco, Westman starts to tear up.
Westman: Life is just so f***ing unfair you know?  I went there in person multiple times.  I brought f***ing flowers too.  They only allowed me twenty minutes.  TWENTY MINUTES!  WITH MY CHILD!  And you know what she said last time?  She said that they said that I had to be dragged up there to see her?  Unbelievable!  I mean why do people do that?  I begged them to let me have her, i BEGGED THEM.
Helen reaches over the table and takes hold of his hands.
Helen: Wow, your poor baby.  I'm so sorry Scott.  I had no idea.
Westman, who was now sniffling, inadvertently started laughing.  Helen had a sudden look of disbelief.
Helen: You son of a bitch!  This was all a joke!?
Westman takes another drink as he keeps laughing himself to tears.
Westman: I'm sorry, I couldn't resist!  You are so naive you know?
Helen: So what you were saying about all those kids. . . . .
Westman:. . . . . oh yeah, I probably have a lot of kids.  I'm kind of a retrobate when it comes to safe sex.  I don't believe in the concept.  There are probably kids all over the place whose mothers are way too ashamed to admit their low roots.
Helen: So basically, if you have other kids you don't know?
Westman: Well there was this one 13 year old blonde girl who a few years back claimed I was her father.  My Senatorial staff investigated her claims and it turned out that she was just trying to extort money out of me.
Helen: People always are underestimating the youth of today.
Westman: Yes, she managed to haggle $26,000 out of me.  Truly there is no justice in this world.  Thank goodness I'm now rich and can afford having women and girls take my money.  Speaking of which, here you go.
Westman plops a stack of bills in front of Helen.  Helen looks at him oddly.
Helen: What is this for?  I told you I really didn't need-
Westman: Helen, don't bullsh*t me.  You needed the cash.  You didn't come all the way here just to see Old Scott or to jump my bones.  Sure, it's not some get rich quick scheme or something otther.  This is for Daniel, isn't it?
Helen quietly nods.
Helen: Yes, father quit funding his education.  Said that a real man would find his own means.  Daniel has always been too proud to ask me to help pay his way.  I always wanted to help him, I didn't need the extra money.  My father paid for my law school, but-well I don't think I should have this-
Westman grumbles, damn it, am I seriously going to give her money to help that SOB finish law school?
Yes I am, damn it.
Westman: No, it's yours.  Use it how you need it.  Even if it is to help. . . Daniel.
Helen:  I know you never really liked my husband Scott-
Westman: It's nothing he's done, I'm just a jealous bastard.  His schooling should not suffer because of that.  I ribbed him alot, but he seems like a really good man.
Wow, you must either really love this one or are using extremely desperate reverse psychology to get her into bed man.
Also, What.  The.  Hell.  Is.  Wrong.  With.  You?  You just gave away $15,000 of your hard earned cash to help Daniel Weathers.  Daniel.  Freaking.  Weathers.  Seriously, what is wrong with you, Westman?
Helen: I always knew you were a good man, Scott.
Westman: SCOREBOARD!
Helen gives him a very confused look.
Oh sh*t, did I just say that out loud?
Westman starts stuttering.
Westman: The-the-tthe doctorrrrr tthinks I might have some sort of Tourettes.
Helen chuckles.
Helen: That would explain a lot.

[Mechaman]

March 3rd, 1988
Washington D.C.

At a lodge, Governor Westman and his entourage are having drinks and having a casual discussion at a large corner table.
Westman, filled with frustration, slams his drink on the table.
Westman: Damn it!  Why didn't any one of you dumbsh*ts tell Mattingly to reschedule?
Anton Levay, Senior Advisor: Scott, you can ill afford to be made to look weak.  For others having to reschedule a debate because they got stabbed in the lungs would be acceptable, but not for you.  We have spent months trying to cultivate your image as a badass, and how badass would it be to reschedule this debate?
Westman ponders the bald man with the intense goatee.
Westman: Damn it I hate it when you're right!  What else is new?
Michael Rosenbaum: O'Sullivan's crew has been calliing us all day-
Westman: NEXT!
Sarah Winchester, Senior Press Associate: Surely you should at least listen to what he has to say, Scott.  O'Sullivan seems to be the most willing to accept your ideas on the national level.  Your feudal allegiance to Udall, particularly given his floundering campaign, is illogical.
Westman: Once Udall is out of the race for good then I will consider heeding O'Sullivan's inquiries.  Until then, I cannot afford to be made to look disloyal.
Windell Pollock: Be that as it may, Udall certainly doesn't seem to be returning loyalty to us.  He recently has stated he would vote for an Assault Weapons Ban.  Something that O'Sullivan has gone on record as being opposed to.
Westman: O'Sullivan has also had a very bad history in regards to electoral reform.  Mo has promised the American people he would advance an Amendment to the Constitution to make gerrymanders illegal and place the responsibility to an independent national board.  That is no small issue.
Winchester: That would matter, if he had a shot in hell of winning.
Westman throws his fists onto the table.
Westman: Damn it!  You people frustrate me!  Carl was so much easier to deal with!  Why did I replace him with a full time staff?  Why!?
Levay: Because that is what serious politicians do.  A Carl Herschelwitz is good for many things, but bringing his best friend to the big time is not one of them.
Winchester: Besides, having the man who is dating your daughter continue to be your Chief Advisor is just bad politics.  I mean, it was a big enough hurdle for us to sell Helen's nomination to the Attorney General office.  Thankfully, the public have short memories.
Westman looks at the 51 year old short haired woman with some intrigue.
Westman: Sarah, I know that you are one of the most respected and knowledgable experts at press relations, but damn it stay out of my personal life.  You don't know what happened between me and Helen, alright?  Besides, you're gay!
Winchester looks slightly offended.
Winchester:  Don't lay out your insecurities onto me, you pig!  I am just saying it as it is!  The optics of appointing your mistress Attorney General is not good politics.  Appointing a Republican woman to the position is though.  And please spare us this "nothing happened!" bull.  Everyone and their mother knows what happened between you and Helen Brisco.  They've known it since 1981!
Westman looks like he is about to burst.
Winchester: Do you want to be taken seriously not only as the Governor, but as a future candidate?  Then play your cards right for once!
Westman: Ever since Dan's vicious anti-Mormon campaign I have made myself a champion of not only a Mormon candidate for president, but of their community.  If I go back on not only my word as a friend, but as my place as a defender of the Mormon community, which is not small in our state. . . . . they would never forgive me.  They would instead see my earlier appeals to them as nothing more than blatant politicking.  Jesus, why did I hire you people if you are so smart?
Rosenbaum throws down his notepad.
Rosenbaum: Okay, I studied this Mattingly guy.  He is a real character.
Westman: Isn't he that one guy who swore out the press when they tried to get a word with the President?
Rosenbaum: Yes, same guy.  He is a real attack dog this guy is.  I would expect a lot of attacks on your patriotism as well as much handwringing about "radicalism".  However, I wouldn't go in expecting nothing more than illogical non-sequitors.  He is likely to be undergoing his own extensive debate prep with assistance from the higher up himself.
Westman throws a Rolaid into his mouth and swallows.
Westman: I am not taking that son of a bitch seriously.  Christian Mattingly is a joke.  He is little more than a duded up gloryhound with an overrated service record who was chosen to his current position largely because he looks good on tv, says all the right things, and doesn't rock the boat.  I don't know why I agreed to this debate.  It's going to be a joke.
Rosenbaum: Maybe that is exactly what Mattingly wants you to think.  You ever seen Rocky?
Westman: Blazes, not this again-
Rosenbaum:-you go into that fight thinking you are Apollo Creed, you are going to get a nasty left hand hook.
Westman: Spare me.  The people of Philly had some faith in Rocky.  Nobody takes Chris Mattingly seriously.
Rosenbaum: As far as you know.  Anyway, while you are laughing him off he has been studying the years of television records of you speaking and debating.  Meanwhile, we have only a couple of political videos of the Secretary of Veterans Affairs speaking.  He will know a lot more about you than you will about him.
Westman: Blazes, let's get on with it shall we?

[Mechaman]

William Buckley's Apartment
Also in DC:

Christian Mattingly is sitting at a fine dining table with William Buckley, the Secretary of Defense and a self-professed expert at debates and confrontations.
Buckley: Now remember, the key to superior debate performance is composure.  Never give your opponent the impression that you are lacking in any doubt.
Mattingly: Doesn't sound so hard.
Buckley: Now Westman is a master manipulator, as you surely saw from that debate earlier.  He will use anything in his disposal to humiliate and embarrass you in front of a national audience.  Composure is extremely important here.  A mastery of composure will allow you to use Westman's greatest weapon against him: his confidence and sense of entitlement.  He is expecting you to be a rube.  He is expecting you to be a dumb fratboy in the debate.  Unlike him, you do not have a Master's Thesis or a college career's worth of papers and research.  He will see this as a massive advantage.
Mattingly sighs.
Mattingly: Here we go with the smarts again-
Buckley:-however, if my summations of Westman are correct he alsoi has not read any of your reports as Secretary of Veteran Affairs or any of your press releases.  He also has not done much study at all of your operations as the owner of a cutting edge automobile company.  If there is one guarantee in this debate it is that Scott Westman WILL underestimate you.  It is up to you to make it as big of a mistake as possible.
Mattingly: All of this policies stuff, it's so convoluted.  DO I really have to memorize all of this sh*t?
Buckley: If you wish to be in command of the debate you will have to.  Westman is expecting to use this debate as a stepping stone to bigger and better things as well as to have yet another avenue to sell his radical ideas.  You are the voice of the Administration.  Stop him.  Crush him.  Humiliate him.  Destroy him if you have to.

[Mechaman]

This is CNN News

Tomorrow night at 9pm Eastern, two of the nation's most prominent figures on the left and the right come together in an epic verbal duel over the issues facing the country.  See Governor Scott Westman of Montana vs. Secretary of Affairs Christian Mattingly on a special edition of Head-to-Head with special guest moderator John McLaughlin!

Don't miss it!

[Mechaman]

The Debate
The National Forum
Washington DC
March 4th, 1988:

John McLaughlin:  Good evening.  You are tuned into the CNN exclusive debate between two of the most prominent figures in the country.  Tonight left and right will collide on the important issues facing this country.  Of particular importance: the debate over controversial Omnibus Crime Bill of 1988, the legacy of the Crane presidency, the congressional fight over taxation, the national debt, and federal laws on drug enforcement.  This will be the first of a series of debates agreed to by both parties to take place leading up to the presidential election this year.  The other debates have been modified to allow for the busy schedule of both the Montana Governor and the Secretary of Veterans Affairs.  The format of this debate is simple: For the first commercial free half hour the independent board chosen for this debate will field the candidates questions they came up with in their brainstorming session.  After that half hour is up the rest of the debate will follow an open town hall format, per the agreement signed by both parties.  Now here are the members of our panel.

The first panel member, a 5'8" olive skinned man with dark hair, stood up.

Roger Greenwald: I am Roger Greenwald with National Institute of Information Technologies.  I will be fielding questions largely dealing with the legality and privacy rights implications of the DAA.

Greenwald sits down as the 5'4" red headed woman in her late fifties stands up next to him.

Maureen Daley: Maureen Daley with the National Institute of Health and Services.  My questions will be dealing with the controversial subject of abortion rights as well as the current drug enforcement policies of the Crane Administration.

Independent advisors my f***ing ass, thought Mattingly.  These people all seem too bookish for their own good.  Yeah this is not at all fair and balanced.

Daley sits down as the 6'0" black man with graying hair stands up next to her.

Robert Jackson: I am Robert Jackson with the DC Chamber of Commerce.  My questions will be regarding the fiscal impact of the Crane tax cuts vs. the various proposals being floated through Congress.

Finally some commonsense.

Jackson sits down as the last man stands up.  Towering over everybody, the 6'5" pale man with salt and pepper hair announced in an almost stereotypical posh English accent.

Richard Colcord: Richard Colcord of the International Independent News Channel based out of Brussels.  I will be asking whatever I feel like.

OH great, a real grandstander.

McLaughlin: ANd there you have it, let us begin.

Greenwald: Though the Defend America Act was proposed and advocated by a Democratic Senator, the Crane Administration has largely owned responsibility for the passage and implementation of the Act.  With several dozen public attacks in the past year alone claiming hundreds of lives as well as polls showing more and more Americans now coming out against the act, how do you defend the effectiveness of the Act?

Yes, independent my ass.  They totally set this up.  Freaking liberals.

Mattingly laughs.

Mattingly: In my role as an appointed member of the Executive Branch, I cannot and should not base my stances on these issues based on matters of public opinion.  As far as I am concerned national security and defense are not popularity issues.  It is about keeping the 205 million citizens of this country safe.  The Taimid Shaorann are a merciless almost genocidal lot, and I don't want them to have any leverage.  The actions of the Taimid have already cost millions of lives, over ten million alone in war torn central Africa.  I do not intend on that happening over here.

Greenwald: I understand that Mr. Secretary, but how do you defend such statements against observations from many, including the Governor here, that the implementation of the Act has not dramatically reduced the possibility of terrorist attacks on US soil?

Mattingly: That is something you are going to have to ask Dan Moynihan.  The Administration pressed him for a stronger and more comprehensive anti-terrorism bill.  I do not defend the Act as it is, I want to expand it.  What the Senator gave us was a water down Act that limits the increased power of authority to investigate through communication wires.  While that is better than nothing, it really limits us to waiting for terror suspects to place a phone call.  I myself think that is ineffective, given that a lot of communication now days is starting to take electronically.  Believe it or not it takes a lot of time and resources to open every letter or listen to every phone call made by hundreds of people.

Greenwald: Governor Westman, do you care to respond?

Westman gives out a very loud laugh as he raises his hands to his side, resembling a “W” profile.

Westman: Unbelievable!  The Administration good old boy can’t even defend the Act that he was so adamant about a few months back!  So what better way than to suggest that the Administration was opposed to Dan Moynihan all along, instead of using that opportunity to shove nauseating “bi-partisanship” in our faces!  The Secretary of Veteran Affairs is not very skillfully or subtly avoiding answering the question because he doesn’t have one!  Just like the rest of them!

Greenwald: Mr. Secretary?

Mattingly looks down at his podium, trying to retain his composure and not jump out at the hippie bastard across the stage from him.

Mattingly: The Governor has a really strange view of facts here.  As any objective reporter and news archivist will tell you there were plenty of record of me specifically voicing concerns to Dan Moynihan himself that the Act he proposed was way too weak and full of damning loopholes that would only force us to waste untold thousands of man hours in the field waiting for terror suspects to make a phone call about something other than pork salad recipes!  At the most I only gave very vague support of the Act, because we in the Administration realize it is better than nothing.

Westman is holding back the laughter as he looks back at the Secretary.

My my, this is an artful little dodger.

Mattingly: And anyway, I think this is just a pointless debate altogether.  Poll after poll show that the vast majority of people in this country support strong law enforcement legislation like the not so perfect Defend America Act, the repeat attempts at an Assault Weapons ban, mandatory criminal background checks for public employees and union members, and practically every single supposedly “anti-Civil Liberties” measure that the Governor over here has strongly opposed to the point of almost treasonous rhetoric.  Matter of fact, a poll the other day from this very institution showed that 57% think that the DAA does not go far enough, which is the point that I just argued.  People like the Governor, and maybe yourself, can argue till they are blue in the face about the civil liberties ramifications of these laws but for the vast majority of people it is all about not sleeping in fear of not waking up the next day.

Westman: If by “the other day” you mean three weeks ago before the German Market bombing, then yeah sure.  What the Secretary is avoiding here, however, is the very observable fact that his pal Dan Moynihan’s law has kept virtually no one safe.  In fact, Americans have never been less safe than they are now thanks largely to the policies of Philly Crane and his mad dog cabinet.

Greenwald: Governor, perhaps some more civil language?

Westman: (waves finger at Greenwald) No!  NO!  NO!  I AM SICK AND TIRED OF BEING CIVIL!  Let’s call a spade for what it really is!  For the past 90 years or so politicians on both sides of the aisle have gone out of their way to setup the pretext of imperialistic ventures with the intent of global American empire!  Year after year it seems, the ramifications and consequences of our meddling only become bigger as do the excuses.  War hawk ideology, it seems, is a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Mattingly is shaking his head.

Mattingly: Governor!  You of all people should know about the responsibilities associated with executive roles of government.  After all even you, the bold and brave pacifist anti-army radical you were, sent state troops throughout your state to investigate armed militias that might have had dealings with the Taimid!  Yet you act like what we are doing, the remote surveillance of terror suspects through phone lines, is somehow an undefendable intrusion of liberty?!

Westman: That is far different and you know it.  The use of state level police to investigate connections between criminal elements is an understandable usage of state power any remotely sane person would agree with.  That is far different from supporting the legalization of bedroom spies without warrants!  “THose who would sacrifice liberty in the name of security, deserve neither security nor liberty.”

Mattingly: Yes yes yes, we all know that quote Westman.  However, I think everyone living today would also be able to note that Benjamin Franklin didn’t have to deal with atomic weapons-

Greenwald: Okay gentlemen, that’s enough.
McLaughlin: Maureen, you’re on.

[Mechaman]

The Debate Continued

Maureen Daley: Governor, in your short but productive career as a US Senator from the state of Montana you attained a record as a stalwart pro-choicer.  However, two years ago you made a radical departure by signing the Horrigan Life Bill, which would ban abortion in the state of Montana.  I believe the question here is pretty obvious: What changed your position on abortion and what would you propose the federal government do in regards to this issue?

Westman: I realize to many that my move at the time seemed very opportunistic and taking advantage of the current times to reverse what was then a continued string of disapproval.  What I will say on this issue is that I had been giving it a lot of thought before that Bill came to my desk.  I mean, since probably around the time of my failed re-election I started having questions about the moral implications if abortion does claim a life like pro-lifers state it does.

Daley: Which explains your indecisiveness on the stage compared to your opponents, both of whom took very defined stances for and against it.

Westman nods.

Westman: Yes.  I realize it is hard for many to understand how someone like me with the life I have lived and the causes I have took up can suddenly fall on the side of life.  I admit, I am a sinner.  I ain't no saint.  But at the end of the day I realized finally the cost of legalized abortions in the state of Montana.  However, I believe that this is far too fragile an issue for there to be a nationwide ban on it.  It should be left up to the states to decide.

Mattingly looks at Westman incredulously.

Mattingly: Governor, you expect the people to believe such hooey?  You were pretty damn pro-choice up to the Democratic primaries.  I know because I spent about a week watching all of your debates.  You took the pro-choice line against Maxwell Baucus in 1974 AND in 1984.  You got onto your Republican opponent, and your former Lt. Governor by the way, for being too pro-life.  Your shift to taking the neutral stance in 1984 was so obviously a general strategy that even Stevie Wonder could see it.  Please don't play us for fools.

Daley: That is a pretty good point Governor.

Westman grumbles, this issue again?

Westman: Lookit, I had plenty of party pressure to keep the Pro-Choice line until it got closer to the general election.  After holding my infant son in my arms after he was born it really changed my perspective on the meaning of life.

Mattingly: And the birth of your first daughter didn't!?  Outrageous!

Westman: I didn't expect you to understand or for even a lot of the people in this audience and around the country to understand.  Admittedly I have not been the best Catholic in the world.  I am a flawed flawed man who is continually coming to grips with his own mortality, as well as the mortality of life in the womb.  I have now taken a vow to do as much as I can to protect life, unlike the Crane Administration which seems to think foreign ones mean less.

Take that, you retrobate.

A few moments of silence fill the air.  The debate had been off to a slow start by now Westman was feeling good about his chances.  They had obviously set that question up to stall his momentum.  Instead he used it as a perfectly good opportunity to emphasize his honesty as well as to connect with some religious voters.

Maybe accepting this debate challenge wasn't bad after all.

Daley turns towards Mattingly.

Daley: I don't intend on leaving you out of this discussion either Mr. Secretary.  We really don't know much about your political viewpoints, even if it is easy to guess.

Mattingly: I believe that life begins at conception.  That is what my mother and father taught me and that is what my wife and I have taught our children.  It is as fundamental a belief that we hold as the importance of honesty and hard work.  I highly support efforts in Congress to ban this barbaric practice as soon as possible and to treat doctors who perform these procedures like they would any murderer caught on the street.  We need a nationwide ban, now.  No more of this moderate hero talk of the Governor and others that we need to take this state by state.  One dead baby is one dead baby too many.

Westman: I don't believe the Secretary truly understand the gravity of this issue.  We don't want any judicial/legislative overreach in areas like this.  A society that decides it can ban abortion wholesale could also legalize it wholesale if they so willed.  It is much better that we have the issue decided state by state, referendum by referendum, rather than use the scope of government to decide wholesale this volatile and emotional issue for millions of women.  I believe the more proper response to decrease abortion in the short term would be more funding for contraceptives and birth control medication.  Both measures that have a wide base of support among many Democrats and Republicans but for some reason our "pragmatic" President and his closest followers strongly oppose.

Mattingly: Governor, you have perhaps one of the most insincere and cynical positions on this issue I have ever heard.  YOu might as well just confess you did it for popularity reasons and to increase your standing with socially conservative Democrats whose votes you are going to need this election season.  And further, we might have supported some of those measures if they weren't cloaked in such a heavy web of dishonesty and said monies were overwhelmingly diverted to clinics that perform abortions, some of them 24 hours a day!  So spare me all of that rhetoric about "unwanted pregnancies" and the like.  It is very easy not to get pregnant: Just don't have sex.  We don't need a largescale government program to help pay for $15 prescriptions from the drug store!

Westman: Me and you obviously come from different worlds then.  Birth Control medication costs a lot more than $15 now days, thanks to legislation like the Hyde Amendment that has pretty much stripped even non-abortion medicine related to reproduction of all public funding.  Believe it nor people have the right to have sex and we shouldn't force the millions of women in this country to play Russian Roulette each time they sleep with a man.

[Mechaman]

Debate Continued

Daley: Okay, next question.  Mr. Secretary, as you may know Montana last year passed a bill that legalized virtually all soft recreational drugs in the state.  Of note, marijuana is now completely legal for residents of that state to smoke out in public with minimal regulations.  The bill had the support of a large deal of the Democratic caucus and nearly half the Republican caucus in the Montana State Legislature.  The Conservatives unanimously opposed it.  Now, I think we all can guess your view on the matter, but what would you propose as an alternative to what many perceive to be a very costly and ineffective war on crime?

Mattingly: Let me start of by telling you what I would not do.  What I would not do is throw in the white towel like the Governor over here has done and pretty much announce to the wide world of degenerates that the world is now theirs.  It is incredible how this man and his cronies in the Montana state government not only passed this legislation, but were able to do so with minimal news coverage so that the naive people he is winning over knows exactly what kind of man he is.

Daley: Secretary!  Civility please!

Westman: No please Secretary, proceed.

Mattingly: I am just at a loss of words on how we can tolerate this kind of politics of indecency, Ms. Daley.  There used to be a time when this kind of outright degeneracy was not embraced and advocated by our very own public officials.  Then again that was a time when nobody in their right mind would consider electing. . . that as Governor, much less US Senator or even dogcatcher!

Daley purses her lips, like she was absorbing what was just said.  There is some noise heard in the audience, a lot of which sounded like murmurs of agreement with the Secretary’s assessment.

Daley: I believe the Governor deserves a rebuttal to these serious charges of yours, Mr. Secretary.  Governor, would you care to respond?

Westman looks over at Mattingly with a look that few could interpret as anything other than pure malice.

Westman: Lookit!  I don’t think you truly understand what is going on here pal!  Millions of adults, largely blacks, Hispanics, and other non-whites, are being thrown into prison every year just for doing some bud!  Reactionary drug policy has pretty much wiped out the very notion of fatherhood among many of our inner city poor.  If taking a strong stance to that policy means being called an enabler of degeneracy by you, I more than welcome it.  I would hate to live in your ideal of a “civil society” by the sounds of it.  You know who else were degenerates, Mr. Secretary?  Our Founding Fathers!

There is some small applause heard in the background.

Mattingly: Use as much big speak and race appeals as you want Westman, those of us with high perception aren’t falling for this fancy talk of yours.  You want me to believe that you, the Governor of one of the whitest states of America with a black population somewhere south of 3,000, are suddenly in a position to be their champion and talk like you are an expert on their problems?  I can tell you that coming from a state where hard working black laborers make up a strong portion of our economy that this bull of yours is nothing more than revisionist baloney from a man with a track record of mocking the advancement of blacks.

Westman laughs loudly.

Mattingly: Oh don’t give us that Westman!  We all know about that one paper you wrote in college about how Affirmative Action makes blacks feel a sense of entitlement or quotes from college friends of yours about how American blacks are a bunch of moochers!  Don’t you dare think you can suddenly get away with selling your views on drugs as some sort of pro-black approach!  You damn well know it isn’t, and your long political career is sufficient proof of it!.

Westman starts laughing uncontrollably.

Westman: Behold!  The reactionary liar in all of his glory!  You see, it seems that every once in awhile somebody will bring up supposed things that I said about American blacks from my college days!  Funny thing is, what’d you know the great Secretary commissar can’t name the source!  Oh sure, “college friends” of mine!  If you reach far enough up your own end you can come up with anything!

Daley: Damn it gentlemen!  Civility please!

Westman: Sorry Ms. Daley.  I just thought this was a damn debate, not a trial!  Because that is what it seems is the only thing that the good Secretary has done so far is make baseless insinuations on my character!  He likes to bash me for my record?  Well at least I have a record damn it!  Where’s yours, Mr. Mattingly?

Daley: I give up!

Westman slams his hands down on the podium.

Westman: I said where is your freaking record, Mr. Secretary!  I mean besides occasional feel goody sentiments expressed about the war that the government lied to get you and your buddies into?  Where were the annual budgets you had to review before passing it onto the state legislature?  Where were the hours long brainstorming legislative ideas in a dimly lit room with little to guide you but your strongly held convictions and an occasional cup of coffee?  Seems to me you haven’t had to make any of the life altering decision that are expected out of the office of Governor of the fourth largest state in the Union.  So please before you feel fit to judge me for enacting degeneracy, maybe you should at least imagine yourself in the shoes of someone who has actually earned the public trust multiple times instead of be where he is because of some cheesy business success story and being friends with a pseudo-intellectual who has about as much pomposity as he does denseness.  When it comes to victimless crimes, you damn right I’m against them!

Backstage Sarah Winchester groans.
Winchester: Damn it!  This is not going to end well.

[Dr. Cynic]

This is so damn great, dude.

[Mechaman]

Debate continued

Daley: Which brings me to the main topic on drugs: the Crane Administration's latest "No Tolerance" raid policy.  As I am sure you are aware, federal drug raids supercede any state and local laws on drug enforcement.  This would render your recently passed drug liberalization bill useless in the event of an operation in one of your cities Mr. Governor.  Given your opposition to this law, may I ask what you intend to do if the federal government goes after drug offenders in Montana?

Westman: I would tell them to get the Hell out of my state.
Gasps are heard throughout the audience.

Westman: I already got arrested by these fools once, I'm not afraid to be arrested by them again.  In fact I would consider it an honor to be imprisoned by these fascists thugs in defense of law abiding Montanans.  All too often, "conservatives" in this country, people who like to brag about how much they love to uphold the rule of law, seem all too willing to support the federal leviathan when it is enforcing their moral code on others.  OH yeah sure, there are some conservatives, like Lawrence Coventry, Ronald Paul, and Thad O'Connor, who truly do live by that code.  Men, with records in the legislative chambers of this country, have stood up to the abuse and cronyism on both sides that suit a greedy police state industrial complex.

Mattingly: Oh put a cork in it Westman!  Such sentiments might have made sense a decade ago when the worst threat facing many American kids were irate middle aged coke dealers, but with the threat of the Taimid strong enforcement is more necessary than ever!  Or did you think the money to fund their violent and genocidal operations just popped out of mid-air?  They have killed millions!  MILLIONS!  I could give a good damn about how evil you think it is or if we might have thrown a few too many daddy's girls into prison for ten years if it means that we can avoid the possibility of another September 6th!  And as it is, I don't trust harebrained anti-war pacifists like yourself and Yankee intellectuals like Mr. Coventry to define what exactly is a "conservative".  In your lecture to us all about how conservatives are supposed to uphold the law you seem to have forgotten the bit about being defenders of society.  Well how are conservatives supposed to do that if we bend over and take it just for the sake of not offending a few zipheads?  The world is not full of daisies Governor.  I would expect that an Executive of a state, even one as radical as you, would understand that.  As it is, the law is not as near as draconian as you all make it sound like it is.  I mean, there is even an exemption for first time offenders who show cooperation for crying out loud.

Westman: I find the idea of a "fair arrest" for non-violent crimes absurd.  There should be no arrests.  This law isn't being used to track down hardcore cocaine drug dealers.  It is used to hunt down harmless marijuana users.  I know so because over the past couple of months federal agents have been tearing down dozens of homes from Missoula to Billings when they could be much better used to track down the Columbian cartels that are funding the Taimid.  I have seen too many good people have their livelihoods destroyed by this law to stay silent.  This Montana Governor and his Administration will defend their rights even in this era of intense paranoia.  Maybe that is some idiotic bleedingheart sentimentalism to the representative of the Crane Vanguard, but it is what I believe.  With all my heart.  To some people the people of their state are just votes. Well not me.  I would fight for every single one of them like they were my own children.

Mattingly laughs.

Mattingly: Your own children?  Governor, don't get me started!  Anyway I find the idea of surrender on this front absurd or that we should just let people do whatever they want to do.  Maybe that is the lifestyle you adopted in your anti-war movement, but that is not what most of us normal Americans grew up believing.  America is for people who want to succeed and prosper, not a catchall socialist utopia where landowners are robbed blind to help fund the lifestyle of slackers!  If we surrender to the drug dealer, lord only knows how vulnerable we would be to the entreaties of the black arms dealer, the seller of child prostitutes, polygamists, and a whole slew of immoral and dangerous characters that could cause untold damage to our younger generations.

Daley: Gentlemen, that is all.  Now Mr. Jackson will ask a few questions on fiscal policy.

As the mods change Westman's mind goes back in time-

[Mechaman]

April 19th, 1980
Around 2:30
Outside of Westman Townhouse
Fairfax, Virginia

Westman parks his car right outside his townhouse.  He looks over at Helen Brisco, who looks a bit dazed.
Westman: Damn woman, I told you to take it easy on those drinks!
Helen laughs.
Helen: Oh come on man!  I'm alright!
Westman chortles.
Westman: "Man"?!  You are blazed! You see you think that just because you are tall that you can handle more?
Helen: I was hopin that my curves could handle it.  Anyway (moves her hand onto Westman's upper thigh), when am I gonna get this?
Westman clears his throat.
Westman: You know, I feel like I should have some sort of moral qualm with taking advantage of a woman, especially a married one, while she is drunk-
The sound of a zipper moving is complemented by the disappearance of Helen's head below steering wheel.
Westman: (chipper tone)-but I'm open to compromises!

Five Minutes Later:
Kathleen Lotaro had lived in Faifax, Virginia all of her life.  She had seen Fairfax go from being one of many small suburbs around DC to a prosperous city of it's own.  Every day it seemed new business were opening up and the landscape was being littered with new chapels, synagogues, and even a mosque just a few roads up.
Her and her husband Phillip were wise enough to get in on the leasing industry at the right time.  They had owned this particular complex since November 1966.  Phillip's uncle Santino had built the complex of exclusively 2-4 bedroom townhouses in the late 1950s with the idea of making a complex that would appeal to many of the middle-upper class transplants that were starting to move in when the town first started booming.  While loans had killed them starting off, once business started booming they had more than enough money to help put Phillip's nephew Tony through freaking Georgetown on an Accounting Bachelor's program.
Sure, there were some moments that she got irritated by the tenants.  Yes, even rich people tend to misbehave sometime.  For instance, she was pretty sure that the esteemed Senator, who looked more like a conman, was slinging coke and pot at some of those parties he had.  The man was just damn shameless, hard to believe he was an elected freaking official.  Luckily, ever since that tall supermodel moved in with him the partying has died down, though now she has to hear complaints by other tenants of a different kind of noise from his apartment.  But hey she have to give him some credit, ever since he became mad stinking rich a year ago he's been in the habit to pay them by the year.  The man is certainly generous with his money, say what you will about him.
Which speaking of the devil there was his car!  Now would be a good time to talk to him about that work order he placed on the downstairs toilet.  Looked like he was still in the car, now is a good time as any.  She walks up to the open window-
Kathleen: Aw Mr. Westman!  I thought I would talk to you about-OH MY GOD!  DON'T YOU PEOPLE HAVE ANY DECENCY!?
CHOMP
Westman's eyes burst out of his head due to the sudden shock.
Westman: AHHHHHHHHHHHDAMNIT!

[Mechaman]

Senator Hatfield's Office:

Hatfield: YOU WHAT?!
Helen had her head hung in shame.
Helen: It's just. . . . that woman came out of nowhere.  Shocked the hell out of us!  I wasn't ready!
Hatfield: You know you could never hold your liquor.  Remember that Western Conference in '78?
Helen hangs her head in shame.
Hatfield: Yeah, we had to take you home on a stretcher.  Anyway, I wouldn't worry too much about this.  You are not near exciting enough to make the local papers here.  The media have bigger fish to fry and would rather say Westman was with a cheap tranny hooker.
Helen unintentionally chortles.
Hatfield: Though I can't imagine that doing any more damage to his reputation haha.  It's an open secret of what is going on between him and that model girl.  I'm not sure why he is more open about that, given his previous relationship with Laura.
Helen painfully holds back laughter inside.  If only you knew.
Helen: I'm sure he feels that is more on a need to know basis.  Believe it or not even Scott is a fairly private individual.  You know he didn't really bring up his relationship with Marci until it came out in the media?
Hatfield: Fair enough.
Helen: Well, to be more fair a pressing magazine article got it out of Marci.  Poor girl was in love, can't blame her.
Hatfield: So what is going on here?
Helen: I came in for the day to get some money from Westman.  And then I had one too many drinks during lunch.  It all kind of went downhill from there.  You know he was actually hesitant at first?  I thought if anyone would be like a shark smelling blood it would be Scott Westman.  Well color me shocked.
Hatfield: Did you regret it?
Helen: What kind of question is that?  Of course I do!  I got a man's blood on my chin!  I could get GRIDS!
Hatfield: Kind of doubt it.  Though it wouldn't surprise me if Scott did have GRIDS, given how prolific he is.
Helen: Thanks Mark, makes me feel better about myself.  Argh, Calpernia is going to murder me when she gets back.  I just hope the damage isn't permanent.  I just don't want Daniel knowing anything about this.
Hatfield: Can't help you there.  You better hope that he's extremely naïve and doesn't read the papers over here.  A US Senator going to the hospital on the same day you're visiting him is not the kind of situation any woman wants to be in.  Anyway, Congressman O'Connor and Mary Sears Lodge will be over for supper in case you are interested.
Helen: O'Connor and Mary?  That is a very interesting match.
Hatfield: They met at a Republican Party function and really hit it off.  Believe me I was shocked as anybody.  Thad is a very brooding individual.  Didn't think he had it in him.  I mean, he was with Nora Westman for awhile-
Helen: Wait a minute, Nora Westman?  You mean Scott's sister?
Hatfield: Oh yes, it was a pretty destructive relationship.  Drugs, alcohol, sex everywhere.  You name it.  Sometimes I wonder if she did him just to get back at Scott for some reason.  She was always a rebellious one she was.  Sure, she was loyal to her brother to a disturbing extent, but he was still a very controlling man in his own way.  But don't listen to the rumors dear.  There is nothing ominous going on between them.  Just desperate tabloids trying to sell papers.  Scott Westman is many things, but not that.
Helen: Well I leave tomorrow early.  Might as well come over at least for a nightcap.
Hatfield: Sounds good.  We always got extra rooms available.  Be forewarned though, you will have to share a bathroom with the congressman.  He isn't exactly the neatest of individuals.
Helen mulled over for a second.  It might be a good idea to stay over to get some information from O'Connor about Westman and Calpernia's relationship.  He seemed to be literally the only other person who knew, apparently.  Well, almost everyone in DC knew Westman was dating Calpernia Weils, but almost none of them apparently knew the details.  Just that Westman was shacked up with this girl and likely banging her brains out every night while Helen was in a loveless relationship with a man who lived largely off of her father's hog.
Why did I get married?  Sure, I might have been drunk earlier but I enjoyed it.  More so than with Daniel.
Helen: Yeah sure, sounds good.
Hatfield: We had planned a spot for Scott, but it seems like he might not make it given current situation.
Helen: Yeah he seemed pretty mad.  But I guess who wouldn't be?  Hey I gotta go.  The doctor is calling.

[Mechaman]

DISCLAIMER: This TL will continue.  Just so there isn't any misconception with "Resurrection".  The plan is to have these two go at the same time as kind of a "Days Past" kind of thing.