#34
Nolan Hendricks III was a rising star. Everyone said so.
Born and raised in America’s heartland, he had the good breeding of John Kennedy, the charm of Bill Clinton, and the grass-roots political savvy of Barack Obama.
Hendricks raised $300,000 in the first few days of his campaign, mostly from small donors. He appealed to a broad cross-section of America, from the liberal-leaning cities on both coasts to the vast, empty breadbasket in between.
We all knew this would make Hendricks the man to beat in Iowa. What we didn’t realize, or maybe realized too late, was that it also painted a big red target on his back.
“Uh oh. We have a problem.” Charlie was sitting on the creaky third-hand couch in the corner of Hendricks for America headquarters, staring at his laptop screen.
I slurped up the rest of my lo mein and pointed at him with my chopsticks. “What problem? Do I want to know?”
“You definitely do not want to know,” Charlie replied.
