Power Games: Operation Enduring Unity I by R A Peters Page B

local politicians that weren’t on board with the program. Especially from communities that benefited heavily from federal spending. For the most part, Tallahassee followed the time-honored political strategy of just ignoring them. This whole stunt was supposed to be for the cameras anyway. Any attempt to punish the local holdouts would give the enemies of Florida, naturally defined as Senator Dimone’s political opponents, proof that they weren’t such a united front.
    In this game of high-stakes chicken, a war of explosive bluffs and rapid-fire sound bites, the slightest perception of weakness was a battle lost. In retrospect, this same facade of steely resolve scared so much of the country and guaranteed a heavy-handed response. Like so many accidents, it seemed like a good idea at the time.
    Just act invincible a little while longer. Keep consolidating your base support while the other guy’s split. An old strategy, but effective. Dimone and his team saw the president’s extreme blustering as desperation. The more they provoked him, the more rope he had to hang himself. Of course, the harder they pushed, the more his actions appeared justified. Welcome to the surreal world of American politics.
    Acting Governor Pickens fanned himself while he waited outside the convention center for the conference to start. This Council of Governors meeting here in Tampa should have been the centerpiece of the grand theater. They weren’t off to a great start. The name itself was a misnomer. Only a handful of governors came themselves and not even every state bothered to send a representative. No matter. None of the organizers were getting bogged down in such technicalities.
    Dimone’s handlers kept their eyes on the big picture. On all that mattered: how the show looked on television. The décor, the pageantry, a few celebrities, the marching band and the laser light show were all so over the top as to make Kim Jong-un look humble.
    This desperate gamble was the biggest sign for Governor Pickens, head honcho after his old boss finally passed away and the lieutenant governor resigned overseas, that maybe he wasn’t backing the winning horse after all. The president’s donors definitely had deeper pockets and weren’t shy about reaching in.
    The other side’s advertising blitz numbed the mind. Those Washington elites didn’t bother spending marketing money in Florida; why compete with Dimone’s money in a state that was already lost? Instead, they showered the swing states in their cash. It was working, too. While Florida grew more radical, the polls everywhere that mattered swung slowly but steadily in the president’s favor.
    Pickens shot the excited reporters another million-dollar smile. No, it wasn’t that bad. If they could flip just a few sympathetic governors, the president’s hold on power would collapse. Only a mass movement, or something perceived as popular, could rattle the Administration’s power tree. One rough shake and the president and all his cohorts would come tumbling out of their clubhouse.
    Conversely, Dimone stood on the ground with no real tree of his own. This get together was the best and maybe last chance to show the legitimacy the senator’s campaign so badly needed. It also couldn’t hurt Pickens own standing. The acting governor didn’t try to suppress his self-satisfied smile as he counted all the network cameras crowded around the convention center’s entrance. The senator and company liked to treat the governor as a useful fool. Well, who outmaneuvered whom tonight?
    Senator Dimone was going to be the last to arrive at his own party. What a smooth move from Pickens to convince Dimone’s PR team, at the last second, to slip the governors of California and Washington into the senator’s motorcade instead of the boss. Those two were by far the most famous and prestigious guests. Their presence ensured instant and major media obsession. Riding in Dimone’s limousine, they would draw the