America 1982-Chapter 464 - 82: Jeff Is Very Crafty
At Zack’s home, Tommy was sitting at the dining table counting the bills. After he finished, he put his own share of one hundred dollars back into his wallet.
The remaining change totaled only a little more than four hundred dollars. Tommy recorded each donor’s name and the amount of their contribution meticulously in a notebook, and only after confirming the accounts were correct did he lift his head and stretched his neck.
Such donations required maintaining a ledger for the campaign committee to audit and investigate, ensuring that every cent was used for the candidate’s campaign expenditures.
Jeff paced anxiously beside him. Seeing Tommy pause, he immediately asked, "Should we go to the police station and bring Martin back? I... You didn’t say that by doing as you commanded, Martin would also be taken away by the police, Tommy."
"No rush, he’s only been taken four hours ago." Tommy picked up the stack of bills and looked at Jeff, "Don’t you want to know how much your neighbors donated to you? Four hundred thirty-seven dollars and seventy-five cents."
Jeff was momentarily stunned, then somewhat excitedly said, "Wow, that’s a lot of money. Do people really want to support me that much? I’m going to win, right, Tommy?"
More than four hundred dollars, strictly speaking, wasn’t much compared to Jeff’s income—it was roughly what he made in a week or a week and a half. But the amount wasn’t what mattered most. What was most important was that this was the first time in Jeff Raven’s life that he received so much encouragement, support, and trust from so many people. They all knew he might not have a chance, but like Tommy, they encouraged him to give it a try.
Tommy closed the account book and lit a cigarette, saying nonchalantly,
"In 1860, Lincoln’s total campaign expenditures for the presidency were also only a hundred thousand dollars, but now, just to find a seat in the House of Representatives, it costs about three hundred thousand, and that’s in a poor place like Florida, which is why it’s so cheap. What makes you think that getting more than four hundred dollars in donations from people on your three streets would give you the idea that you could win? Broken down, that’s like each parent donating $3.60 to you. Not considering the outcome, even if you want to have enough funds to support you to the final showdown, it means you need to find another hundred thousand people willing to donate $3.60 each."
Jeff was left speechless by the figures Tommy threw at him.
A hundred thousand people—there are less than two hundred thousand in District 18 as a whole. To meet the condition Tommy mentioned, it meant that more than half of the district’s population would need to trust him like the neighbors who have known him for years, donating three dollars each for him to have a chance to raise three hundred thousand dollars.
"I can’t do it, Tommy, no one can make a hundred thousand people like them, unless they’re Elvis or Aerosmith." Jeff came back to his senses and looked at Tommy, "Why not give the money back to everyone? I... And if that many people really support me, I promised to offer free pipe inspections to the families who donated if elected. A hundred thousand people—if I repair one family a day, how many months will it take? Do the math for me, I’m not good at it."
"About two hundred and seventy-plus years. If you start from this year and continue until you die at eighty-one, you will still leave behind two hundred twenty years of free work for your four children to inherit, averaging fifty-five years of work each. Assuming they start paying off your debt at eighteen with no vacation at all, they’ll have to work until they’re seventy-three to finish it all," Tommy said with a laugh, looking at Jeff.
Jeff stared blankly at Tommy, "You’re joking, right?"
Seeing no response from Tommy, Jeff, driven to distraction, walked over to the table, picked up the ledger, "I don’t like to break my word. I promised to provide free pipe inspections to donors if I won, but I can’t have my son pay off the debt for me. The only way around it is for me to drop out. I don’t want my kids, like me, dealing with stinky pipes every day, especially to fulfill their father’s promises without pay."
"Not many people are willing to donate to you, and your small donations are pretty much this much already. Why? It’s simple. These people are your neighbors, they’ve known you for years, they’ve seen you grow from a boy who lost his father and was taken care of by the community, to a good man who now helps the church and neighbors take care of other kids. They’re willing to give you money to encourage you, but their kindness toward you doesn’t mean the other two hundred thousand people in the district who don’t know you will follow suit. So, the next focus is on the companies, social organizations, and churches that are active in the district. In short, we go after the money wherever it is," Tommy said as he put away the money and stood up.
"Isn’t the most important thing next to go to the police station and bail out Martin? He’s been taken away for four hours," Jeff remembered Martin being taken away by the police and urged Tommy, "He... I don’t know why you had Martin lie, or why you had me act along with him in front of everyone. Lying doesn’t feel good."
"Wait a while longer." Tommy sat down on the couch, turned on the TV, and switched to the local TV news channel, "Wait until all four local TV stations air the stupid news about Martin, especially on BT network, which the Black community watches. After that’s done, we’ll go visit him, I... Oh~ look, it’s Martin’s news, we’ve finally got you."
Upon hearing Tommy’s words, Jeff also looked toward the television, where the top-of-the-hour news program was broadcasting the local story of the morning’s events in the school parking lot, showing Martin standing on top of a car, loudly discussing the letters Jeff sent to the parents, while the host looked at the camera:
