Bella, now the headmistress of one of the largest schools in California, had also, after Florentyna had won a seat in the Senate, become the city’s Democratic committee chairwoman.
‘I always knew you would run for President, so I thought I had better make certain of San Francisco.’
Bella did make certain, with her 1,000 so-called volunteers banging on every door. California’s split personality — conservative in the south, liberal in the north — made it difficult to be the kind of centrist candidate Florentyna wanted to be. But her efficiency, compassion and intelligence converted even some of the most hardened Marin County left-wingers and Orange County Birchers. San Francisco’s turnout was second only to Chicago’s. Florentyna wished she had fifty-one Bellas because the vote in San Francisco was enough to give her 69 percent of the state. It had been Bella who had made it possible for Florentyna to look forward to arriving in Detroit for the convention with 128 more delegates than Parkin.
Over a celebration dinner, Bella warned Florentyna that the biggest problem she was facing was not ‘I’ll never vote for a woman’ but ‘She has too much money.’
‘Not that old chestnut. I can’t do any more about that,’ said Florentyna. ‘I’ve already put my own Baron stock into the foundation.’
‘That’s the point — no one knows what the foundation does. I realize it helps children in some way, but how many children, and how much money is involved?’
‘The trust last year spent over three million dollars on three thousand one hundred and twelve immigrants from underprivileged backgrounds. Added to that, four hundred and two gifted children won Remagen scholarships to American universities and one went on to be the foundation’s first Rhodes Scholar and will soon be on his way to Oxford.’
‘I wasn’t aware of that,’ said Bella, ‘but I’m continually reminded that Pete Parkin built a feeble little library for the University of Texas at Austin. And he’s made sure the building is as well known as the Widener Library at Harvard.’
‘So what do you feel Florentyna should be doing?’ asked Edward.
‘Why don’t you let Professor Ferpozzi hold his own press conference? He’s a man the public will take notice of. After that everyone will know that Florentyna Kane cares about other people and spends her own money on them to prove it.’
The next day, Edward worked on placing articles in selected publications and organized a press conference. They resulted in a small piece in most journals and newspapers, but People magazine did a cover picture of Florentyna with Albert Schmidt, the Remagen Rhodes Scholar. When it was discovered that Albert was a German immigrant whose grandparents had fled from Europe after escaping from a prisoner-of-war camp, David Hartman interviewed Albert the next day on ‘Good Morning, America.’ After that he seemed to be getting more publicity than Florentyna.
On her way back to Washington that weekend, Florentyna heard that the governor of Colorado, whom she had never particularly considered a friend or political ally, had endorsed her without advance warning at a solar-energy symposium in Boulder. Her approach to industry and conservation, he told the convention, offered the resource-rich western states their best hope for the future.
That day ended on an even brighter note when Reuters tapped out the news right across America that the Welfare Department had delivered its first major report since the implementation of the Kane Act. For the first time since Florentyna’s overhaul of the social service system, the welfare recipients leaving the register in a given year had surpassed the number of new applicants coming on.
Florentyna’s financial backing was always a problem as even the most ardent supporters assumed she could foot her own campaign bills. Parkin, with the backing of the oil tycoons led by Marvin Snyder of Blade Oil, had never had to face the same problem. But during the next few days campaign contributions flowed into Florentyna’s office, along with telegrams of support and good wishes.
Influential journalists in London, Paris, Bonn and Tokyo began to tell their readers that if America wanted a President of international status and credibility there was no contest between Florentyna Kane and the cattle farmer from Texas.
Florentyna was delighted whenever she read these articles, but Edward reminded her that neither the readers nor the writers could pull any levers on any voting machines in America, although he felt for the first time they now had Parkin on the run. He was also quick to point out that there were still 412 of the 3,331 delegates who after the primaries and caucuses remained undecided. The political pundits estimated that 200 of them were leaning toward the Vice President while about a hundred would come out in favor of Florentyna. It looked as if it was going to be the closest convention roll call since Reagan ran against Ford.
After California, Florentyna returned to Washington with another suitcase full of dirty clothes. She knew she would have to cajole, coax and arm-twist those 412 undecided delegates. During the next four weeks she spoke personally to 388 of them, some of them three or four times. It was always the women she found the least helpful, although it was obvious they were all enjoying the attention that was being showered on them, especially because in a month’s time no one would ever phone them again.
Edward ordered a computer terminal so that Florentyna had access to the records at campaign headquarters. The terminal provided information on all 412 delegates who remained uncommitted, along with a short life history of each, right down to their hotel room numbers in Detroit. When he reached the convention city, he intended to be ready to put his final plan into operation.
For five days during the next week, Florentyna made certain she was never far from a television set. The Republicans were at the Cow Palace in San Francisco, haggling over whom they wanted to lead them, no one having excited the voters during the primaries.
The choice of Russell Warner came as no surprise to Florentyna. He had been campaigning for the Presidency ever since he had become governor of Ohio. The press’s description of Warner as a good governor in a bad year reminded Florentyna that her main task would be to defeat Parkin. Once again, she felt it was going to be easier to defeat the Republican standard-bearer than the opposition within her own party.
The weekend before the convention, Florentyna and Edward joined the family on Cape God. Exhausted, Florentyna still managed to beat Edward in a round of golf and she thought he looked even more tired than she felt. She was thankful that the Baron was run so well by its new, young directors, which now included William.
Florentyna and Edward were both due to fly into Detroit on Monday morning where they had taken over yet another Baron. The hotel would be filled with Florentyna’s staff, supporters, the press and 124 of those uncommitted delegates.
As she said good night to Edward and then to the Secret Service men and women — whom she was beginning to treat as her extended family — that Sunday night, Florentyna knew that the next four days were going to be the most important in her political career.
Chapter thirty-five
When Jack Germond of the Baltimore Sun asked Florentyna on the plane when she had started working on her acceptance speech, she replied, ‘Since my eleventh birthday.’
On the flight from New York to Detroit Metro Airport, Florentyna had read through her acceptance speech, already drafted in case she was nominated on the first ballot. Edward had predicted that she would not secure victory on the first roll call, but Florentyna felt she had to be prepared for any eventuality.