tthew
Fisher needs him or not is a rhetorical question."

Governor Spanding lit a cigarette in silence while he stared at the
quasi-riot that was still coming to the screen from Convention Hall.
Then he said: "You've been thinking of Matt Fisher all along, then."

"Not Patagonia," said the senator. "Tibet."

"I'll shut up if you want me to, Jim."

"No. Go ahead."

"All right. Jim, I trust your judgment. I've got no designs on the Vice
Presidency myself, and you know it. I like to feel that, if I had, you'd
give me a crack at it. No, don't answer that, Jim; just let me talk.

"What I'm trying to say is that there are a lot of good men in the party
who'd make fine VP's; men who've given their all to get you the
nomination, and who'll work even harder to see that you're elected. Why
pass them up in favor of a virtual unknown like Matt Fisher?"

Senator Cannon didn't say anything. He knew that Spanding didn't want an
answer yet.

"The trouble with Fisher," Spanding went on, "is that he ... well, he's
too autocratic. He pulls decisions out of midair. He--" Spanding paused,
apparently searching for a way to express himself. Senator Cannon said
nothing; he waited expectantly.

"Take a look at the Bossard Decision," Spanding said. "Fisher was
Attorney General for his state at the time.

"Bossard was the Mayor of Waynesville--twelve thousand and something
population, I forget now. Fisher didn't even know Bossard. But when the
big graft scandal came up there in Waynesville, Fisher wouldn't
prosecute. He didn't actually refuse, but he hemmed and hawed around for
five months before he really started the State's machinery to moving. By
that time, Bossard had managed to get enough influence behind him so
that he could beat the rap.

"When the case came to trial in the State Supreme Court, Matt Fisher
told the Court that it was apparent that Mayor Bossard was the victim of
the local district attorney and the chief of police of Waynesville. In
spite of the evidence against him, Bossard was acquitted." Spanding took
a breath to say something more, but Senator James Cannon interrupted
him.

"Not 'acquitted', Harry. 'Exonerated'. Bossard never even should have
come to trial," the senator said. "He was a popular, buddy-buddy sort of
guy who managed to get himself involved as an unwitting figurehead.
Bossard simply wasn't--and isn't--very bright. But he was a friendly,
outgoing, warm sort of man who was able to get elected th