An Unlikely Truth

Martin Truth wasn’t just an underdog. He was an invisible dog. A practically non-existent dog.

This was his fourth run for U.S. Congress representing Ohio’s 3rd District, which included Dayton, Ohio, home of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and a lot of Republican farmland. His main opponent, GOP pretty boy Matt Gardner, was a sixth-term incumbent, ex-military, slick, patriotic, arrogant, always smiling and full of hot air, which voters sucked in with steadfast loyalty. The only question this time around seemed to be how big his landslide victory would be.

Things looked really bad for Martin. His fiancé and girlfriend of eight years left him. His 9-to-5 job rendered him a zombie. His campaign was broke and as the Green Party candidate, he wasn’t even on the radar screen of 99% of the voting public. His chances of winning the election appeared to be less than zero.

Then a way to turn everything around arrived in a most unexpected form.

Jamila Parks was an African-American grad student from Rutgers University. She joined Martin’s campaign on a practical internship required to complete her masters program in political science. Jamila had the face and body of pop music star Rihanna, and the IQ of Albert Einstein. She brought with her a unique and untested campaign strategy which had been work-shopped in a graduate seminar at Rutgers. It had been precisely designed to take on the likes of smooth-talking, two-faced toadies like Martin’s nemesis, Congressman Gardner.

How effectively it would play out in this election remained to be seen. But one thing was certain.

Politics in America would never be the same.