Leo picked up the coffee cup in front of him and took a sip.
"Are you finished?"
He stood up, rounded the long table, and walked over to Ron Smith. He pulled up a chair and sat opposite Smith, their knees almost touching.
"Ron," Leo began. "You just mentioned Senator Warren and your Republican voters. You're worried that if you work with me, they'll think you've betrayed your principles."
Smith didn't deny it.
"But I want you to think back," Leo said, staring at Smith's wrinkled face. "When the Erie Machine Tool Factory announced its layoff plan, how many people were gathered outside your office? Five hundred? A thousand?"
The corner of Smith's eye twitched.
"Those workers were holding signs, shouting slogans. They were asking you for jobs, asking you to put food on their tables. Back then, did a single one of them ask you, Mr. Mayor, if you were a Republican or a Democrat?"
"Did any of them say, 'Because you're a Republican, we're willing to go hungry'?"
