When Joseph Patten read the local paper, his fears about the debate turned out to be mixed. Essentially it read as being:
Voting Intentions
Mrs Choir: 45.2%
Mr Hireman: 41.2%
Undecided: 13.6%
Meaning that Tabitha could be opening up a lead over Wayne. However, other elements were not so good for him. For it also said that in the part concerning the Washerman fiasco, that had claimed it's final victim the night before, Hireman had 33/33/34 agree/disagree/don't know. This was what he had feared. By attempting to contradict Hireman at the debate, right off the bat, before the fact-checkers could put all the information together, George had potentially handed him a good win. The large number of undecided, however, gave him some hope. So long as enough believed the official verdicts, Tabitha still had a chance. The other main piece concerning the election was:
4th Debate
Mrs Choir: 50.4%
Mr Hireman: 41.7%
Undecided: 7.8%
She was doing it. There was still a long road ahead. But so long as they all kept at it, and made the right moves, Tabitha would be able to win. It was strange. Barely a few months back, he and George were almost at each others throats, now, working together to tackle Hireman, within both the rules and the law of course. Truth be told, they would likely never be close friends, but at least they weren't enemies either, that was something.
The other main news. That of the death of Michael York. Which had made the front page. He never really knew him that well, and now, he never would. A shame. From what he knew, he had been the first open supporter of George and - in particular - Molly. He guessed they'd be taking it hard right now, so it might be best he stayed out of their way for the next few days.
On a personal note. He'd stayed in touch with Clemens. And he'd recently rebuilt the strength his legs, and was able to use them to walk around now, and had a new girlfriend, though it wasn't a sexual relationship, at least for now. Not until either they figured some way to prevent the Animatrix from being sexually transmittable, or if she decided to be like Clemens, that is, a snake-person. And according to him, there was going to be a Conan Convention that they planned on attending, where Arnold Schwartzenegger would also be. He could already see EXACTLY where this one was gonna go, and couldn't resist the soft laughter. That one, would certainly be in the main news, that much he could count on.
Still, back to the here and now. He had to get ready for the Summer Fun Programme, which was still on. Then he'd need to work with Tabitha to plan out the remainder of the campaign. For the first time though, he allowed himself some satisfaction that their work was coming together. With some more work, and a little luck, Tabitha would replace Wayne, and another piece of Beauregard's work would be dismantled. Hopefully permanantly.