Lance drove the Ford F150 camouflage pickup truck that seemed to be driven back directly from the Vietnam battlefield full of gunsmoke, and when there was still a few tens of meters away from the WLRN-TV station, he slowly slowed down and pulled over, and the arrival method of other candidates was completely different, and the other candidates basically did not get off the various types of business cars until the car drove to the main entrance of the TV station, and then waved his hand to thank the supporters who supported him on the spot, and then entered the TV station under the reminder of the team assistant. The rationale for preparing for the primary debate quickly faded through the door.

And Jeff, Jessica, Gina and the children got out of the car early, and walked up to meet the veterans who came early to cheer for Jeff, without waving, Jeff faced every veteran who looked shabby and down, and gave a powerful hug and a crisp response:

"Veteran, I will win the war tonight! Meet you with victory! ”

"Sir, leave a sip of wine and wait for me to come out to celebrate the victory!"

"Corporal Fry! I will definitely ask Washington to hire the best doctor to remove the shrapnel from your body! I want you alive! ”

Every veteran, even if he has been living on the streets, smelling bad, and his clothes are in tatters, Jeff has no hesitation, he seems to have lost his sense of smell, or he is the same kind of person as these poor people, this is just a gathering within the army, everyone laughs, hugs, and then goes out together and sets foot on the battlefield.

Arriving at the team of candidate supporters outside the TV station, Jeff has the largest number of supporters, not that other candidates can't call more supporters than Jeff to stand on the scene to cheer, but it's unnecessary, this is just the party primary, the most important thing, during this time period, voters should be at home with their families, and candidates will also thoughtfully let supporters sit on the sofa at home and enjoy his performance through TV.

Only Jeff's supporters, a considerable number of veterans don't even have a home, because of alcoholism, drug addiction, domestic violence or emergency symptoms live on the streets all year round, they have nowhere to go, Jeff is their only thought, because this their juniors, their comrades, promised them that they would go to Washington to fight for their deserved benefits.

Even a few veterans set up two televisions directly on the broken car, ready to watch the live TV primary debate from the sidelines.

Jeff hugged the veterans one by one, and his children followed closely behind their fathers, giving each veteran a scout salute, and the serious and resolute expressions of the little ones often got a happy response from the veterans, even if they were already drunk, they would stand up as straight as possible, and give them a Patton-style military salute in response, laughing and quipping, "Keep going!" Soldier! ”

Jessica's hairstyle tonight changed to short curly wavy turnouts, a demure ochre-colored dress, glass stockings, low-heeled leather shoes, a pearl necklace around her neck, and a gentle smile on her face, following behind the children, taking the initiative to shake hands with each veteran.

Tonight, the biggest change in the Jeff family's appearance is Jessica, and it took Marcus almost three days to finalize the image of Jessica who is now appearing.

It turns out that this image is very good, and the elderly World War II veterans on the field will subconsciously look at Jessica, and then hold Jessica's one hand with both hands, looking either embarrassed or pleased.

Jessica's look tonight is the most common look for Florida housewives during World War II, and the wives, mothers, sisters, and younger sisters of these veterans are basically in this image, with plain dresses, do-it-yourself curls, glass stockings, a trinket to wear even if you are poor, and low-heeled leather shoes that can make women walk without too much difficulty.

Seeing Jessica's appearance, many veterans instantly moved their thoughts back to that magnificent and turbulent time.

However, Gina, who walked at the end of Jeff's house, immediately let them pull their thoughts about their female family directly to another good memory, because Gina's appearance in front of her has also changed very much tonight, a long blonde hair has turned into fluffy and full golden wavy jaw curls, sexy bright red flaming red lips, purple tight low-cut sundress, exaggerated earrings, pearl bracelets, a pair of long legs, and high-heeled dancing shoes inlaid with sequins.

Whether it is a World War II veteran or a Vietnam War veteran, as long as they are not blind, they can see that this young girl is as charming and stunning as Marilyn Monroe, although Vietnam War veterans did not enjoy the treatment of Marilyn Monroe, but it does not mean that they are not familiar with this look.

A drunken veteran, holding a placard made of rudimentary cardboard, shouted to Gina with a wicked smile on his face: "Film censor! ”

It was like a starting gun that made all the veterans look at Gina, and then they laughed and shouted together, "Film censors!" ”

"Marilyn Monroe's classic quotes." The receiver in Gina's ears rang, and the team assistant reminded in time: "Quotes about the groove on the chest." ”

Gina leaned slightly in the direction of the veterans, revealing most of the whiteness on her chest, then suddenly straightened up, her chest trembled, she stretched out her hand to the veterans, and spoke in a tone that was a mixture of stupidity, innocence, artificiality, and most importantly, sexiness: "The problem with film censors is why people should care if a girl should show a groove, and what they should be most worried about is that a girl doesn't have a groove!" ”

Whistles and vulgar laughter suddenly resounded, and one of the veterans in the front row exclaimed with satisfaction on his face: "Just this look! It's enough for me to support Jeff until I die! ”

Gina let out a melodious laugh like a silver bell, and her footsteps spun briskly in place, causing her skirt to fly, revealing her round and strong legs, and then said the words of Marilyn Monroe: "Happy Valentine's Day two days ago!" Lads! See you back home! ”

With that, Gina put two fingers to her lips and made a kissing gesture towards everyone, then quickened her pace and chased after Jessica, leaving only a group of veterans to reminisce.

Backstage in the dressing room, Marcus personally helped Jeff with his makeup to make sure his face looked tougher in front of the TV camera, while Jeff closed his eyes and kept his lips open and closed, apparently silently reciting the content of the manuscript that Tommy and Martin told him to memorize clearly, Martin was blocking the door of the dressing room, with his back to the hallway, looking at Jeff and saying:

"Take it easy, Jeff, just like you did during rehearsals before."

"Where's Tommy?" Jeff finished reading a paragraph in silence before he opened his eyes and saw that it was only Martin, and asked.

"I've always been with you, Jeff." As soon as he asked, Tommy's voice rang in his ears.

……

Page pushed open the door, walked in with a glass of water, put it in his hands in his pockets, and stood quietly in front of the window to enjoy the night: "Jim called and said that some controversy broke out among the directors of KeyBank, and they thought that letting Otilia evacuate now, and the adjustment of Jim's position, was a plan for you to find a replacement for the dead after you hollowed out KeyBank, but Jim said that he didn't explain, but Stephen learned the news, and rushed over in person in order to appease those people, and he relied on his family credit to persuade those people, And let Jim not disturb your vacation, Jim said, you owe Stephen. ”

"Stephen trusts me that I won't hurt him." Tommy picked up the water and took a sip: "It's not time to explain yet, wait a little longer, it's almost over, and besides, let's pay attention to this little game tonight first." ”

After saying that, he turned around and looked at the layout of the room, which could almost be regarded as a small studio editing room, with six televisions placed at the moment, the picture and sound were all turned on, each corresponding to one of the six different angles of the camera in the studio, during the live broadcast, the camera would switch close-ups at any time according to someone's speech, or capture the reaction of the audience at any time and broadcast it to the audience watching in front of the TV.

Compared to Jeff in the dressing room, only Martin and Marcus were accompanied, and at the moment Tommy was in an office on the second floor of WLRN-TV, except for Paige who would be dozing off against the wall of the hallway outside, and Martin's three younger brothers, two of whom were guarding the door with their arms crossed, one left and one right, and one with gauze wrapped around his head, standing at the top of the stairs to make sure no one could disturb Tommy.

This office was given to Tommy by Rosario Kennedy, her ex-husband before marrying David Kennedy, Gustavo Andrew, who was the press director of the Miami TV station.

At this time, Tommy can clearly see and hear that the host has taken his seat through the TV screen, and is announcing the rules of the live broadcast in front of the camera, and at the same time reminds the audience who arrived at the studio to be quiet, do not applaud or talk at will, so as not to affect the performance of the candidates on the stage, and avoid irrelevant sounds that cause the audience watching the live broadcast in front of the TV to be unable to focus on the performance of the candidates.

After the host announced the rules, he began to signal that the audience could applaud and welcome the candidates, for the voters of the 18th district, except for the two or three candidates with deep pockets who they had seen on TV or newspapers and roadside billboards before, the remaining candidates may be seeing for the first time, so the host will introduce the basic information of the candidates to everyone in turn.

And Tommy, who was in the room, was already familiar with the information of these seven people.

The mock vote selected the party's No. 1 candidate, former Miami Deputy Mayor Rosario Kennedy.

The mock vote selected the party's second-ranked candidate, Joanna Pepper, niece of the previous Rep. Claude Pepper.

The party's third-highest ranked candidate in the mock ballot was Gerard Richman, a lawyer from Middleton Law Firm in Liberty City in the 18th District and founder of the North Miami Black Community Coalition.

The simulated vote selected the party's fourth-ranked candidate, Jeff LaVine, a plumber repairman and veteran from Miami's East Side of the 18th District.

The mock vote selected the party's fifth-ranked candidate, North Miami Black Equal Employment Opportunity Commission chair and insurance broker from Little Haiti, 18th District, James Meg.

The party's sixth-ranked candidate in the mock ballot is Raul Wright, a furniture store owner from North Miami in the 18th district.

The simulated vote selected the party's seventh-ranked candidate, a lifeguard from the 18th district of Miami East, model, small movie actor, Andy Hogan.

When the seven candidates stood in front of their respective podiums, the moderator opened the envelope in front of him straight to the point and said:

"Tonight's topics are the focus of voters in the 18th constituency, and I am honored to ask you questions on their behalf, I promise to live up to their trust, ask questions seriously, and I hope that all the candidates can give your answers positively and clearly, so that the voters of the 18th constituency can understand your vision and values, the first phase of the issue, the economy and employment issues in the 18th constituency, this is a very practical issue, and it is also a question that the people of the constituency are all concerned about, let's follow the order from left to right and women first, To begin the first phase of the Q&A, starting with you, Ms. Kennedy, why do you think you can make a difference in the declining economic environment in the 18th District and provide jobs for the people of the 18th District? ”

Tommy pulled up a chair and sat directly in front of six televisions, his eyes fixed on Rosario Kennedy answering questions.

The first issue is not race, but jobs and the economy, which is David Kennedy's desire to catch his ex-wife off guard against other candidates, and previously used the propaganda period to make a big rhythm, shouting that the seats in this district are Cuban seats and so on, at least it will make all the candidates on the stage feel that the racial issue is the top priority, and put the most thought into this issue to please Cuban voters, but Rosario does not need to do this, because she is Cuban herself.

There is nothing new in Rosario's speech, mainly nonsense and empty words, to legislate, to appeal, anyway, the economic environment is bad, mainly because those large companies that are not benevolent to the rich lack a sense of social responsibility, she will call in Washington to raise taxes on these large companies, and then increase the investment in social welfare, basic livelihood and other aspects in the district, urge the improvement of the business environment in the 18th district, attract more companies in fruit planting, sugar industry, tourism to invest, provide jobs for the people of the 18th district, and so on.

I'm afraid that except for Jeff, the remaining five have prepared answers similar to Rosario Kennedy, but Rosario won her first answer, which also makes the later candidates have to choose other answers immediately, after all, if it is roughly the same as Rosario's answer, it may be difficult for the audience to impress him more than Rosario who spoke first.

Joanna Pepper, the second to speak, subtly mentioned her uncle, Claude Pepper, who has been in this position for twenty-five years, said that her uncle has been promoting this issue in Washington, but it is not completely completed, and now she will definitely solve this problem as a niece, including local plantations, orchards, farms that use mechanized harvesting in large quantities, causing great damage to the environment in the 18th district, so it is necessary to promote the seasonal agricultural worker protection bill to ensure these plantations, Orchards and farms continue to employ large numbers of workers, and if the bill is successful, there will be at least 8,000 more seasonal agricultural workers in the 18th district, and she will promote cooperation between the Environmental Protection Agency and several agricultural fertilizer companies in the area on fertilizers to increase fruit production to ensure that plantations do not lose revenue by hiring manpower.

In Tommy's view, if Rosario's speech is empty words with his eyes closed, and Joanna's speech is nonsense with his eyes open, and he will fool the people at the bottom of the constituency, as far as the current virtue of the eighteenth constituency is concerned, even if the plantation owner really has a brain convulsion, gives up mechanization, and chooses to hire manpower, he will only choose the Cuban illegal immigrants everywhere, these illegal immigrants do not need to sign contracts, pay half or more than normal workers, and generally pay cash on a daily basis, how can they hire American citizens?

There is also a research collaboration between the Environmental Protection Agency and fertilizer companies to increase production, which is comparable to getting a police chief and a mob boss to bow down in full view of the American public.

How to cooperate with a pair of rivals, more than half of the environmental protection bureau's sky-high fines every year come from fertilizer companies or agricultural pharmaceutical companies, the environmental protection bureau usually does not find trouble with fertilizer companies, fertilizer companies have already snickered, and come to talk about cooperation, even if it is true, I am afraid that the small fertilizer companies in the 18th constituency will not dare to believe it, lest a word be wrong, and the company will close down.

If Joanna really brought the members of the Environmental Protection Bureau to meet the boss of the fertilizer company, the boss of the fertilizer company might have scolded on the spot: "You kid brought Huang Jun here?" ”

The third black lawyer, Gerald Richman, said that he believes that because of the pay gap caused by race and skin color, the economic environment in the 18th constituency is now poor, the same heavy physical work, white people pay 19% more than blacks, 55% higher than Cubans, a white person has a stable job, can easily support a family, while Cubans and blacks may have to work four jobs a day, may end up having to worry about rent, white people feel that Cubans take their jobs, And Cubans will also complain that the income of white people is too high, and their own income is too low, he believes that the most important thing to change this situation is to narrow the pay gap so that everyone can have a fair employment environment, he will push to increase the pay of people of color in the 18th district, at least on par with white people, so that the economy can be re-circulated, when the income is stable, people of color can also reach the tax limit, and they can also take their families on weekend outings, shopping, and movies, stimulate the consumption industry in the district, and narrow the racial wealth gap in the district.

It is also to fool the people at the bottom, play the racial card, and brush up on the favor in front of Cuban voters.

The moderator then looked at Jeff: "Mr. LaVine, why do you think you can make a difference in the declining economic environment in the 18th District and provide jobs for the people of the 18th District?" You have two minutes. ”

Jeff looked at the audience and showed a silly smile: "I don't know, maybe we should call on everyone to follow the Cuban smugglers entrenched in the 18th district to steal car tires, rob, and sell hemp?" ”

In a word, the audience, who had been drowsy by three consecutive slightly boring and empty speeches, suddenly came to their senses, and their eyes widened to see which big smart person on the stage said the absolutely earth-shattering words just now!

Not only the audience, but the six candidates couldn't help but turn their faces sideways and stare at Jeff LaVine, not understanding why this guy said such a sentence, you know, the main audience in front of the TV tonight is the voters of the 18th district, and 45% of the voters are Cuban-American, and it may not be a racial joke to open up with white supporters on the street in ordinary times, but this is a live TV, and there is no way to change the words spoken.

Even the host, who is a quarter of Cuban ancestry, stared at him in disbelief and said informably: "I'm sorry, what did you just say?" ”

"Thank you, host, that's a great question, I used to volunteer in elementary school, I asked the kids a question, when you're as old as me, what will the 18th district look like, what will Miami look like, and they describe a lot of images that are so beautiful that it breaks my heart, and those pictures are so weird, there are beautiful landscapes, there are tall buildings, there are spaceships, there are alien friends, do you know what these pictures have in common? There are no Cubans. ”

At the end of the sentence, there were no Cubans, and the smile on Jeff's face and eyes quickly faded, cold and hard as a stone.

99% of the audience in the audience, both men and women, subconsciously covered their mouths with their hands!

If the first sentence is earth-shattering, the second sentence is not directly elevated to earth-shattering without the Cubans!

Jeff has a straight face, mainly looking at the audience, but occasionally glances at the camera at Tommy's reminder to let the audience in front of the TV notice his fierce and determined gaze:

"Some candidates say that to improve the economy, they need to raise taxes on the rich and large companies in the district, and then use that money to improve the public welfare and basic livelihood of the district. Why take the money from their pockets? The 18th constituency has been doing this all these years, has the economy gotten better? It's getting worse and worse, because the rich people who have a sense of responsibility, who insist on hiring regular workers, who sign contracts, the big companies have left, look at how many of the companies you used to know have disappeared completely, moved to the Caribbean, Mexico or even Asia, they went overseas to hire local workers, and the people of the 18th constituency who had stable jobs can no longer earn a penny, in the 18th constituency, is it a sin to be rich? ”

"If elected, I will call on Congress in Washington to legislate to deport all illegal aliens from the United States, and that's how I can restore the economy and increase jobs."

"I don't know if the other candidates have access to the data on refugee shelters, immigration prisons, and other relevant information that the city government has publicly accessed, but I have checked that the earliest illegal Cuban immigrants have been receiving refugee relief and humanitarian medical benefits since they were smuggled into Miami's 18th district in 1961, and have not been granted status for 28 years."

"A Cuban smuggler worked as a black worker in the United States, maliciously evaded taxes and lowered prices, robbed the job opportunities that belonged to American citizens, earned money and sent it back to Cuba, and then enjoyed the relief and humanitarian benefits provided by the tax money of American citizens in the 18th constituency for free for 28 years!"

"Do you know how many Cuban smugglers there are in the eighteenth district? The information I found from the city government was more than 43,000 people, almost one-to-one with legal Cuban-American citizens. ”

"These more than 43,000 Cuban smugglers are entrenched in the 18th district, unscrupulously lying on us American citizens and sucking blood, spending our taxes, robbing our jobs, and destroying our law and order.

"I asked an accountant to help me calculate the data I looked up and came up with a series of figures that if these Cuban smugglers were removed, the average household income in the 18 constituencies would increase by 27 percent, the number of jobs would increase by at least 4,000, and the incidence of various policing cases would be reduced by 37 percent."

"I can also say more clearly, for example, a worker with legal status in the United States can earn 10,000 yuan a year after working hard now, and after driving out more than 40,000 Cuban smugglers, you can earn 12,700 yuan next year, and the extra 2,700 yuan is a lot of money, enough to buy a new car for a child who is about to become an adult as a rite of passage."

"2,700 bucks, and that's what those damn Cuban smugglers got from sucking blood on you for a year, maybe you want to figure it out, they ......"

The host couldn't help but interrupt Jeff: "Mr. Laven, it's time, you ......"

Jeff didn't even look at him, just looked at the audience and said to himself: "They have sucked the blood of the eighteenth constituency for nearly thirty years, how much money have you lost, the accountant helped me calculate, 2,700 yuan, multiplied by 30 years, is equal to 81,000 yuan." ”

"If this continues, Cuba will not have to invade the United States, it can suck our nutrients dry and grow into a second Soviet Union, and it is only one step away from us, and there is no European Soviet Union in front of it."

The moderator spoke again: "Mr. Laven, I hope you will abide by the ...... of the election debate"

Jeff raised his voice and suppressed the other person's voice:

"That's my answer, I want my kids to grow up to volunteer, and ask the kids, when you're your age, what will the 18th district be like, what will Miami be like? They can give the same answer, there are no Cubans. ”

Jeff finished speaking in one breath, and then looked at the moderator: "Thank you, host, I have finished speaking on the economic and employment issues in this district." ”

When Jeff was really quiet, but the host didn't know what to say, the cameraman avoided the host's speechless picture being captured, and immediately switched the camera to the other candidates on the stage, leaving the host two or three seconds.

It's just that the faces of the other candidates are not much better than the host's, and then switch to the audience, although the audience in the audience is silent, but the heavy gasps clearly indicate that they are far less calm than they seem at the moment.

"For most people, the absence of Cubans is not important, but the extra 81,000 is important." Tommy watched the reaction in the studio through the TV in the room, and said with satisfaction.

(End of chapter)