Buck Wildley seemed more and more defensive in his campaign. He put a TV ad out, accusing Maria as "babying the voters." It included a scorpion, for some reason. It was a huge flop. People were offended that Buck would even regard them as babies.

The debate came and went, and it was a huge win for Maria. Buck was usually a smooth talker, but he seemed to fumble a lot, and he sneezed a lot. Maria, on the other hand, spoke well, and had a calm demeanor about her. She didn't say anything remarkable, or showed off great oratory skills. She just didn't mess up like Buck had. Fred thought that that was enough for her to win the election. It was always about not sucking as much as the other candidate.

Then, close to the end of the campaign, Buck got ensnared in a s.e.x scandal. A lot of his female staff accused him of s.e.xual hara.s.sment, even the young male interns. Then, there was an expose about how Buck was having s.e.x with a college girl. People, even his support base, felt genuinely disgusted with him.

As if things couldn't get worse for Buck, there was a front page article about how Buck was taking bribes and stuff. It even reported that Buck was going to allow some construction company to demolish Fred's local park to build some building or something. People in Fred's neighborhood were p.i.s.sed. Fred was p.i.s.sed, too. He really liked that park. An investigation against Buck was underway, and Maria was way ahead in the polls.

Finally, election day came and went, and Maria Cortez won. Obviously.

As Fred watched her victory speech, he saw how her term in office would be like. She was opposed every step of the way. One man, or one woman, for that matter, couldn't do anything, even in a position of power. There was city council to deal with, the state senate, other politicians, the other party, frustrated const.i.tuents, lobbies and lobbies and lobbies. Fred frowned. He was sick of how things never got done in government. It was always in a lockdown, filibusters and petty bickering. He was sick of it. Fred cut that future with the many oppositions that Maria would have faced, and turned off the TV. He had to work the next day.

Buck Wildley went to prison. He had served for decades in local government. His reputation and legacy were in ruins. Fred paid no mind to it. It was all Buck's own undoing, anyway. Time would tell what Maria Cortez would do in office.