`Thing you gotta understand here, Mickey, is the Democrats are factionalized, always have been. They can't agree on shit. You got liberals in the North and conservatives in the South. You got New Age intellectuals in the West, labor guys in the Midwest, along with farmers and subsidy protectionists. It's a patchwork of ideologies, and Malcolm thinks this gives us a chance… and I agree with him."

"How so?" Mickey said.

" 'Cause in a four-or five-horse race where nobody is winning, there's a chance with financing to jump in and grab the thing early… While the rest of these guys are fighting over little pieces of the pie, we sweep in and grab the whole deal."

Ken looked over at Guy Vandergot before continuing.

"Okay, here's the Democratic field now that Paul's gone. All these guys have announced, and in a week or so, all of 'em are gonna be in Iowa cornfields, sitting on Jap tractors, talking about farm subsidies like they actually give a shit… So we gotta get in this now if we're gonna," Ken said, still pointing with his knife. "Your front-runner is gonna be Leo Skatina, the second-term U. S. senator from New York. He's got name identification, good local organizations, and the media likes him. He's the early poll leader. He's been real vocal about women's issues. I think the Democratic National Committee is getting set to endorse him. The DNC probably thinks he has the strength to win against Vice President Pudge Anderson, who we all know is gonna be the Republican candidate. Then you got the Democratic senator from Florida, Peter Dehaviland. Environmentalist, that's his beachhead issue-offshore drilling, air pollution, nuclear waste. He also has a strong stand against unrestricted immigration… He's gonna fade unless he gets really lucky in Iowa and New Hampshire. Malcom agrees."