Forging America: My Campaign Manager is Roosevelt-Chapter 63 - 50: The Elephant in the Room

The very next morning, the news of Leo’s candidacy made the front-page headlines of every media outlet in Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Chronicle ran a relatively neutral headline: "Community Hero Challenges Incumbent Mayor, Pittsburgh Election Kicks Off Early."

Some right-wing, conservative media outlets, however, began their first round of attacks on Leo.

They painted him as a dangerous socialist, an opportunist with ulterior motives in Pittsburgh.

Meanwhile, in Mayor Carter Wright’s campaign headquarters, the atmosphere was oppressive.

The office, located on the top floor of a luxury downtown high-rise, overlooked the entire Pittsburgh skyline.

But at that moment, no one was in the mood to admire the view.

Carter Wright’s campaign manager and his key advisors were holding an emergency strategy meeting.

The meeting had only one item on the agenda: how to deal with the sudden emergence of the challenger, Leo Wallace.

"We have to launch an all-out media assault on him, right now!" Carter Wright’s campaign manager, a man named Scott Reed, said, pacing agitatedly around the conference room.

"We’ll brand him as a political upstart with zero actual governing experience—all show and no substance!"

"We need to tell all the middle-class voters that everything this kid has done was paid for with federal grants he conned out of his socialist buddies in Washington!"

"We need to hammer home his radical and dangerous political ideology. Tell everyone that if he gets elected, Pittsburgh will become the next Detroit!"

Mayor Carter Wright sat at the head of the table, smoking a cigar in silence.

He looked short on confidence.

His clashes with Leo over the past few months, especially the arson case that had backfired so spectacularly, had instilled in him a deep-seated fear of the young man.

"Scott, I get all that," Carter Wright finally spoke. "But you need to find me some real dirt that can finish him, not these toothless ideological attacks."

"No matter the cost, we have to bury him in this election!"

Meanwhile, in a site office on the other side of the city, the atmosphere was completely different.

There was no gloom and anxiety here, only the soaring fighting spirit of an army heading into battle.

The night Leo announced his candidacy, his team immediately went on a war footing.

Roosevelt’s voice echoed in his mind, giving him one last briefing before the war began.

’Very good, my boy. We’ve fired the first shot, and it was a beautiful one.’

’But you must remember, from this point on, we will be facing a comprehensive, systematic, and unscrupulous assault.’

’A long mayoral campaign is like a twelve-round heavyweight title fight. An early lead means nothing. What matters is who’s still standing in the final round without getting knocked out.’

Under Roosevelt’s guidance, Leo began to lay out the first phase of the campaign’s objectives for his team.

Karen Miller immediately stepped into her role.

Drawing on the media and public reaction from the previous day’s announcement, as well as the latest online sentiment data, she quickly formulated the core strategy for the first phase of the campaign.

"Leo, our objective for phase one is clear," Karen said, pointing to a chart on her laptop. "We must consolidate and expand our core support among the white, blue-collar working class."

"Then, we need to immediately begin making strategic inroads with our two weakest voter demographics: suburban middle-class families and inner-city minority communities."

Ethan Hawke, for his part, distributed his policy white paper—dozens of pages long—to everyone.

"I’ve systematically consolidated all our successful experiences at Site Three into a policy document titled ’The Pittsburgh Revival: A People’s White Paper on Urban Development’."

"This document will be the cornerstone of all our campaign messaging moving forward. We’re going to distribute it to all the media outlets, community organizations, and key opinion leaders in Pittsburgh."

"We need to show everyone that we don’t just have passion—we have a complete and viable plan to run this city effectively."

The moment Leo announced his candidacy, Sarah’s team launched a small-dollar donation portal on their official campaign website, titled "One Dollar to Help Leo Wallace Change Pittsburgh."

Within the first hour of his announcement, donations from the citizens of Pittsburgh had already surpassed fifty thousand US dollars.

Frank, meanwhile, began to assemble his "Worker Vanguard Team."

He planned to transform this team of several hundred workers into the most formidable door-to-door canvassing force in all of Pittsburgh.

On that day, two campaign machines kicked into high gear simultaneously.

A fierce electoral battle for the future of Pittsburgh had officially begun.

...

「The first week after the official campaign announcement.」

An all-hands strategy meeting was underway at Leo’s campaign headquarters.

The atmosphere in the conference room was electric.

Karen stood before the projector screen, presenting the first set of internal polling data she had just received.

"Everyone, this is an excellent start," Karen said, her voice tinged with excitement. "After Leo announced his candidacy, his support soared to thirty percent, while Mayor Carter Wright’s numbers have dropped below forty percent. He’s leading us by less than ten points."