Volume 4: White Devil Chapter 262 Professor Tommy's Political Class
There are more than two hours left before the Democratic primary officially begins tonight.
"Mr. Page told me that more than 400 veterans had already rushed to the scene more than an hour ago, holding various slogans and Jeff's portraits. Well done, Martin. Your brothers and some black veterans were arranged to stand in the front row to make the scene look less racist." Tommy leaned against the doorpost of Jeff's living room and said to Martin, who was busy helping Jeff debug the receiver.
Martin had no time to answer Tommy's words. Instead, he was helping Jeff with the final debugging and fixation of the micro-receiver in his ear. Nowadays, this kind of micro-receiver is no longer considered cheating in political elections. Almost every politician will install one in his ear, because in election speeches and debates, you never know what kind of weird question your opponent will use to interrupt you when you want to speak eloquently and express your thoughts. If you are at a loss and speechless, the TV station's camera will immediately transmit your stupid expression to all the viewers watching the live broadcast in front of the TV.
"It feels like a chickpea is stuffed in my ear." Jessica and the children also have receivers placed in their ears. They don't need to go on stage, but they need to be in the front row below the stage, appearing as family members of the candidates. Members of the election team will look at them one by one, each staring at one of them, reminding them to sit still and not make any indecent or etiquette details that could easily be caught and criticized by opponents.
"You only have one, honey, but I have two, and they're not even the same size." Jeff stood motionless in front of the dressing mirror, but responded to his wife.
Marcus's styling team members took Jessica and the children to the more spacious backyard to test the reception effect of the chickpea in the ear. To ensure that there was no mistake, Jessica and the children had a receiver in their left ear.
During the entire televised primary debate tonight, they will be closely watched by members of Marcus' team, who will use voice to remind them of various issues at any time, mainly etiquette, such as when to smile, when to applaud, if the opponent attacks Jeff on the stage, they cannot speak to help Jeff fight back, control their emotions, what to pay attention to when getting up and leaving the meeting at the end, where to meet Jeff and accompany Jeff out of the venue, how to stand in the corridor, how to shake hands with supporters waiting outside the venue, etc.
As tonight's candidate, Jeff has one more receiver than Jessica and the children, one in each ear. The reason for preparing two is to prevent other candidates from playing tricks, such as using some jamming equipment to cut off the receiving signal of their competitors. People like Jeff, although they have accumulated some experience in live speeches before, compared with other opponents who have been in politics for many years, if they don't have a receiver, they will basically become a slow-reacting, speechless fool on the live broadcast.
So to be on the safe side, Tommy prepared two completely different professional receivers for him. This way, even if another candidate's election team accidentally guessed the model of one of the receivers in Jeff's ear and cut off his timely reception function, the other continue to work stably.
"Where did you buy these two beans, Tommy?" Jeff shook his head to test whether the receiver would fall off, and asked Tommy curiously, "This thing, I mean, if students put it in their ears during the exam, can everyone get into Harvard?"
Jeff knew that politicians would wear this thing because similar props appeared in many TV series and movies involving elections he had seen before. He was just curious why no one wore this to apply to Harvard.
Martin was also stunned for a moment, then looked at Tommy with his eyes shining: "Did you hear that? Boss, Jeff found a business opportunity. Yes, we should sell this thing and make a fortune. We should provide all the black high school students in Little Haiti who are learning how to sell grass in public middle schools or preparing to join gangs with a chance to study at Harvard!"
"The one in Jeff's left ear is an unreleased product developed by a technology company founded by a Stanford alumnus of mine in Silicon Valley. They hope to use it to get orders from the U.S. Army or the U.S. National Guard. The one in his right ear is a product from East Germany. One of my best friends used this thing to conduct an interview across the Berlin Wall. So, I'm not sure how many convenience stores your black brothers would have to rob to get enough cash to buy these two beans."
As Tommy was talking, he took off his suit jacket. Paige came over and fixed two transmitters the size of playing cards on his belt, and then fixed the microphone on Tommy's collar. After checking, he nodded to Tommy, indicating that there was no problem with the two transmitters used to direct Jeff's performance on the spot.
"Isn't it a bit of a waste to use such a high-end product in an election of this scale?" Martin said with a smile when he heard Tommy say that the receiver was very advanced.
After Paige had adjusted the transmitter, Tommy straightened his collar and asked, "Do you know what the benefits of investing in a bunch of technology companies are?"
"I'm not sure. Maybe Hawke's whole family can get into Harvard with this thing?" Martin shook his head and gave an answer that he himself felt was unreliable.
"Let those politicians who are used to showing goodwill to the financiers of traditional industries understand that times have changed." Tommy straightened his shirt, put on his suit, and walked towards the door of Jeff's house.
The Democratic primary and first round of candidate debates for the special election for the Florida House of Representatives seat in District 18 were held in the WLRN-TV studio on First Avenue in East Miami.
WLRN-TV is a secondary member TV station of the American PBS Public Television Network. As the American public television network, PBS Television Network is a non-profit organization that is not allowed to have a political stance and always ensures neutrality. Its programs are broadcast free of charge to the American public. Its income mainly comes from donations from the American public and program broadcasting fees paid by its subordinate TV stations. It has more than 300 subordinate member TV stations and is the only television network in the United States that has member TV stations in all American territories, including overseas territories.
Whether it is CBS, ABC, NBA, FOX or Tommy's BT, these commercial TV networks cannot completely cover all states in the United States, not to mention overseas places such as Hawaii and Guam. It can be said that as long as you are in the United States, as long as you have a TV, you may not be able to watch other TV networks, but you can definitely watch PBS. In addition, it is a non-profit organization with no political stance, so the live broadcast of American political elections is held by PBS in the studios of member TV stations in various places, and the TV stations will also broadcast the candidates' performances live to the people in the constituencies.
The three hundred Democrats in the 18th district who received the invitation will watch the debates and speeches of these candidates on site. After the primary debate, all registered Democrats in the district will receive a call from a third-party professional investigation company commissioned by the Democratic Party office, asking the Democrats the name of the candidate they have decided to support after the primary. The entire process will be recorded to prevent candidates from cheating in the primary.
There are seven candidates who have qualified for the primary debate tonight. The names of the ineligible candidates will not even be mentioned and they are collectively referred to as others, just like Zack who participated in the election last year. These candidates who can appear on live TV have an opportunity to show themselves in front of all voters and even non-constituency people, and how to show themselves is naturally to show their charm, eloquence and appeal.
The entire live debate lasts 90 minutes and is divided into three stages. Each stage lasts 30 minutes and revolves around a topic. Each candidate has two minutes to answer the questions raised by the host. When all the candidates have answered, the free discussion stage around the topic begins. That is, the seven candidates need to compete for the remaining 16 minutes and try to be as shocking as possible to leave a deep impression on the voters. Of course, the opponent will interrupt at any time to disrupt the rhythm. If the interruption is clever, the counterattack is sharp, and the words are meaningful, the opponent can get more impression points. But we must also consider self-defeating, such as blindly interrupting and making empty speeches, which may also leave a bad impression of rudeness and vulgarity on the audience.
Strictly speaking, the seven candidates cannot know what the three topics are in advance, because the topics are discussed and agreed upon by the Democratic Party office and the Democratic Party cadres in the constituency six hours before the live broadcast begins, and then handed over to the PBS TV station. The TV station will then hand them over to a moderator responsible for hosting the debate, and the moderator will decide how to ask questions based on his or her understanding of the topics.
The topics of the party primaries are also the battlefield for the fight between the two parties. From the topics of each other's party primary debates, one can judge what cards the other side will play in the final battle and in which direction the other side will try to take the campaign tone.
In fact, the topic is not difficult to guess for those who are interested. The election teams of various candidates have been pushing for the topic to be finalized according to the slogans of their own candidates as early as the early publicity period of the election.
For example, whether it is the Republican Party or the Democratic Party, racial issues will definitely be an issue in this primary election, because the strongest candidates on both sides are Cuban-Americans, and both are preparing to compete to become the first Cuban-American congressman in their district.
Secondly, tonight's topic should include women's issues, because among the top three candidates in the Democratic Party according to simulation data, there are two women, Rosario Kennedy and Joanna Pepper.
In addition, public welfare, social security, and medical issues may also be selected.
Tommy was standing on the street lighting a cigarette, while Jeff's black driver Lance was wiping the camouflage pickup truck. Jeff and his family would take this pickup truck to the venue tonight.
He didn't care at all what the topic was, because for all the topics, Martin's employees had already prepared detailed speeches. Not only had Jeff read those speeches countless times, he had also read them carefully. He was not worried that an unfamiliar topic would arise and he would not know how to start the conversation, because the host would not go off topic and suddenly ask a killer question like why Florida is so blessed with so many talented people, which only God could answer.
The only thing he needed to consider was how to quickly give a sharp and unexpected counterattack within the short three seconds when Jeff's speech was interrupted during the free discussion phase of the live broadcast, leaving the troublemaker speechless.
The reason why it's only three seconds is because countless election teams have used countless live debates to come up with the answer that a counterattack within three seconds is the length of time that voters can accept. Although most American voters do not have extremely fast reaction capabilities, it does not prevent them from classifying a candidate who does not know how to counterattack within three seconds as slow to react.
A Beetle drove over from a distance and stopped at the roadside outside Jeff's house. Louise Deville, dressed in a business suit, waved her handbag without even getting out of the car: "Tommy, this is tonight's topic, it's genuine! I got it through a special channel at the Democratic Party office! Why are Martin and Jeff's phones either unanswered or turned off!"
But she was disappointed. Tommy did not run over excitedly and snatch the topic information from her bag. Instead, he stood there, staring at her with a smile, holding a cigarette in his mouth.
"What's wrong? Did you know in advance?" Louise opened the car door and got out, walking towards Tommy with her handbag and asked.
Tommy lowered his head to look at the road, then looked at the surrounding environment in the distance, and finally looked at the beautiful woman who graduated in political science who walked in front of him. He smiled and said, "Did you foolishly take the initiative to frame Jeff, or did someone instruct you to do this? You'd better think about the answer to this question clearly."
Louise was slightly startled when she heard Tommy's words, but immediately asked in surprise: "What are you talking about?"
"Not you." Tommy observed Louise for a few seconds, then said affirmatively: "Rosario's election team has anonymous friends with other strong candidates. I saved you, girl."
Louise Deville stared back at Tommy in a daze for more than ten seconds, and suddenly took a deep breath like a drowning person. The file bag in her hand seemed to be hot, so she threw it away in a hurry, and even kicked it away with her high heels after it fell to the ground.
"The other party probably didn't expect that I had been inseparable from Jeff eight hours before the debate. According to his thinking, I shouldn't be here, and the thing in your hand will appear in the hands of Jeff and Martin. As for why their calls can't be reached, there are only two phones that can reach them, but I have to answer them first." Tommy said to Louise in a calm tone, "Of course, it is to prevent emergencies like this before the primary election."
Then he raised his voice and shouted, "Mr. Page!"
Paige came over from the porch of the main entrance, and Tommy pointed at Louise: "This girl should have some small things on her. Do her a favor and find them out."
Paige motioned to Louise to leave with her. When Louise heard that the old man was going to search her, she did not object and followed Paige towards Jeff's garage like a puppet.
Ten minutes later, Louise reappeared in Jessica's floral home dress. Paige said to Tommy woodenly from a distance, "There's a micro-eavesdropping device in the lining of the handbag."
"Politics is not just about power and beauty, miss, it's also about selling out and betrayal. You think you're an expert in political science, but political science courses won't teach you how ugly human nature is." Tommy lit another cigarette and said to Louise, whose face was even more numb than Paige's: "Best friend? Best colleague? Whatever your identity, if you really gave that thing to Martin or Jeff, then you have to find a way to calm Rosario's anger."
"Klein, my boyfriend, he's the administrative secretary of the team." Louise reached out, took the cigarette from Tommy's mouth, and took a puff herself: "It can't be him. We've been dating since college. This is impossible. I believe he's just conveying Tom or Rona's arrangements. He wouldn't do this. He can't be an informant for other candidates."
"But you didn't dare to call Tom Chaffee or Rona to confirm it right away, because you were worried that it would ruin your remaining luck." Tommy licked his lips after his cigarette was taken away, and turned to walk into the yard:
"Learn to get used to it. This is real political science. It's a brand new course that you will never be taught in college. Your performance in this class was very bad and you should have been disqualified. But luckily, Professor Tommy gave you a chance to retake the exam."
"What should I do?" Louise asked Tommy's figure.
Tommy glanced at the woman standing there. "Have a drink, take a nap. If you wake up and are sure you still want to make a living by serving politicians, remind yourself that all your relatives, friends, and classmates want to frame you and ruin your life the moment you wake up. You must listen carefully to every word they say to you, because they may all be lies. Only when the person you serve wins and sits in the position he wants to sit, and you truly have a vacation, will their trust and affection for you be temporarily restored. This cycle will repeat until you retire ."
"Maybe I won't go crazy until I retire?" Louise said self-deprecatingly.
Tommy looked down at the time on his watch, and walked towards the main entrance of the living room without looking back. He responded, "On the contrary, many American conspirators enjoy this kind of work. When have you ever seen those top managers of large election consulting companies who help the president plan his campaign go crazy? Never. They only have two endings: becoming your boyfriend and making further progress in their career, or becoming you and ending their career."
The next second, Tommy disappeared through the living room door.
There is one hour and thirty-seven minutes left until the election begins.
