Murphy froze for a second, then realized what Leo was getting at.

If he was going to run for Senator, he had to prove to Sanders that he could command this plan, not just act as a mouthpiece.

Murphy took a deep breath and spoke into the phone, "No, Daniel, you’re talking to me now. This is about my election. It’s about our future in Pennsylvania."

A soft chuckle came from the other end of the line.

"Alright, John. Then tell me, who’s going to buy these junk bonds? Those fund managers on Wall Street? The moment they see Pittsburgh’s financial statements, they’ll feed those bonds right into the shredder."

"So walk me through your logic."

"How exactly are you going to spend this five hundred million US Dollars? How exactly are you going to run this so-called Senate campaign?"

"And don’t tell me this is just about giving you a graceful exit, or helping that kid of yours plug a fiscal hole."

"If you can’t give me a politically sound reason for all this, I’m not going along with this crazy scheme."

Murphy glanced at Leo.

Leo picked up a pen from the desk, scribbled a few keywords on a piece of paper, and held it up for Murphy to see.

Murphy focused on the paper. It held three words: New Deal, Experiment, Legacy.

He understood Leo’s meaning in an instant.

He had to frame this insane financial gamble as a grand political vision.

Murphy took a steadying breath, his voice growing firm.

"Senator, these aren’t just ordinary municipal bonds."

"We’re not going to call them ’Revitalization Bonds’ or ’Infrastructure Bonds.’ Those names are too generic. They won’t spark anyone’s interest."

"We’ve given it a new name."

Murphy said, enunciating each word.

"The nation’s first Rust Belt New Deal Experimental Bond."

The breathing on the other end of the line became noticeably heavier.

New Deal.

This was the holy grail for all Progressive politicians, the highest ideal they had pursued their entire lives.

Murphy continued, "You’ve always wanted to roll out your New Deal vision nationwide, but you’ve been blocked by Republican opposition and Wall Street’s indifference. They call it a fantasy, say it’s economically unviable."

"Now, we’re giving you a chance to prove them wrong in Pittsburgh."

"We’re going to use this money to fix the crumbling roads and bridges."

"We’re also going to use it to build the nation’s first network of worker cooperatives backed by municipal funds, putting the means of production back in the hands of the workers."

"We’re going to retrofit the energy systems in thousands of old homes, creating thousands of blue-collar jobs."

"This will be the first time your ideas are put to a full-scale test on the ground, right here in the Rust Belt—a swing region where deep red and deep blue intersect."

"If this succeeds, it will be the greatest legacy of your political career."

"If you don’t do this, you’ll forever be stuck on Capitol Hill, just shouting slogans into the wind."

The words struck Sanders right where he was most vulnerable.

For a man in his seventies, the allure of power might have faded, but the allure of his place in history was irresistible.

"It all sounds very nice."

Sanders’s voice was calmer now.

"But you still haven’t addressed the most fundamental problem: where is the money coming from?"

"Pittsburgh has a junk credit rating. Those guys on Wall Street only look at ratings, not ideals. They’re not going to foot the bill."

"If you can’t manage to issue the bonds, everything you’ve just said is nothing but talk."

"That’s where you come in."

Murphy’s voice grew louder.

"We don’t need an investment bank from Wall Street to be the lead underwriter."

"Wall Street looks down on us? That’s fine. We look down on them, too."

"Senator, you’re the leader of America’s Progressives. You have immense power behind you."

"We want you, as their leader, to issue a call to all Progressive forces across the nation."

"The pension funds of the major Unions—giants sitting on hundreds of billions of US Dollars, looking for somewhere to invest it."

"The green investment funds committed to environmental protection and climate change."

"The family foundations that focus on social responsibility, that want to use their investments to change the world."

"You need to tell them that buying these bonds isn’t a typical investment. It’s a political statement."

"This is a movement where we vote with our capital."

"We’ll use Progressive money to save the forgotten Rust Belt. We’ll use workers’ money to create jobs for workers."

"If you can mobilize even one percent of that power, this five-hundred-million-US-Dollar bond issue will be sold out in an instant."

"And when that happens, when those guys on Wall Street see there’s a profit to be made, they’ll come swarming like sharks that smell blood, begging us to sell to them."

"That’s how we’ll force their hand."

Murphy said it all in one breath, his chest heaving.

Those were the boldest, most insane words he had ever spoken in his life.

He had always just been a politician looking to coast in the House of Representatives until retirement, but right now, he felt like he was holding a sword.

On the other end of the line, Sanders was calculating.

He was calculating the risks and the potential rewards.

’Packaging a political vision in five hundred million US Dollars of debt. Using a financial instrument to achieve an ideological mobilization.’

’The move was incredibly risky.’

’But it was also incredibly tempting.’

’If it worked, it would be a textbook maneuver.’

"John," Sanders’s voice came again, tinged with a complex mix of emotions. "You really have changed. You used to only talk to me about how to divvy up money in the Appropriations Committee. Now you’re talking to me about how to raise it."