“Sammy and Rick are both available. Who do you want to read the spot?”

“Find out who’s pissed off.”

“Sammy’s wife just left him. She wants a divorce.”

Frank stopped typing and looked at her with an inquisitive smile. Tracy was the best assistant he had ever had. She was extremely loyal and possessed an uncanny feel for everything happening all over town. A bit on the hefty side and only twenty-five, she had a wholesome face and was engaged to a man who would soon be graduating from Harvard Law School. Frank knew that he would lose her one day and dreaded the thought.

“How do you know that?” he asked.

She shrugged. “He’s on the phone. He’s in a bad mood.”

“Tell him we’ll fax the script over in ten minutes.”

Tracy nodded, vanishing from the doorway. Then Frank noticed Woody standing by the window in another one of his moods. It seemed to Frank that Woody had been in a bad mood since the last election cycle two years ago.

“I’m busy, Woody. What do you want?”

“I want you to drop the Merdock account.”

Frank laughed and turned back to the monitor. “You’re ridiculous. Get out.”

“Merdock’s trying to buy a seat in the Senate with his father’s money. He’s a dick, an incompetent boob.”

“The victim of a negative campaign,” Frank said, typing the words onto his screen.

“He’s morally bankrupt. He’s gonna spend fifty million bucks.”

Frank smiled. “What Virginia needs. No,” he said, correcting himself. “What Virginia REALLY needs.”

“This is the U.S. Senate, Frank. Merdock hasn’t talked about one real issue. He doesn’t stand for anything!”

“I’m sure he stands for something,” Frank said, reviewing his script on the monitor. “If you don’t want your share of the media buy, then don’t take it. Simple as that.”

Woody reached over Frank’s shoulder, opening his desk drawer and taking a cigarette from the pack Frank kept for emergencies. Then he settled into the deep cushioned chair. There was a long silence. Frank glanced at him briefly, checking to see if he was still in the room.

“This isn’t what we had in mind when we got into this,” Woody said finally, almost whispering.

Frank let go of his keyboard and sighed. He looked at his friend slumped in the chair with his feet on the coffee table.

“What we got into was the business of getting people elected,” Frank said.

“No matter what?”

Frank smiled, turning back to his work. “Children and puppies,” he said.

“What?”

“He’s for children and puppies.”

“Fuck you.”

Woody got up and left the room enraged. Frank shook his head.