ink and go to bed. We have to be
in Philadelphia tomorrow, and I'm dead tired."

"That's a pair of us," said Fisher, taking the glass.

* * * * *

Another month of campaigning, involving both televised and personal
appearances, went by without unusual incidents. The prophets, seers,
and pollsters were having themselves a grand time. Some of them--the
predicting-by-past-performances men--were pointing out that only four
Presidents had failed to succeed themselves when they ran for a second
term: Martin Van Buren, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, and Herbert
Hoover. They argued that this presaged little chance of success for
Senator James Cannon. The pollsters said that their samplings had shown
a strong leaning toward the President at first, but that eight weeks of
campaigning had started a switch toward Cannon, and that the movement
seemed to be accelerating. The antipollsters, as usual, simply smiled
smugly and said: "Remember Dewey in '48?"

Plays on Cannon's name had caught the popular fancy. The slogan "Blast
'em With Cannon" now appeared on every button worn by those who
supported him--who called themselves "Cannoneers." Their opponents
sneeringly referred to them as "Cannon fodder," and made jokes about
"that big bore Cannon."

The latter joke was pure epithet, with no meaning behind it; when
Senator James Cannon spoke, either in person or over the TV networks,
even his opponents listened with grudging interest.

The less conservative newspapers couldn't resist the gag, either, and
printed headlines on the order of CANNON FIRES BLAST AT FOREIGN POLICY,
CANNON HOT OVER CIA ORDER, BUDGET BUREAU SHAKEN BY CANNON REPORT, and
TREASURY IS LATEST CANNON TARGET.

The various newspaper columnists, expanding on the theme, made even more
atrocious puns. When the senator praised his running mate, a columnist
said that Fisher had been "Cannonized," and proceeded to call him
"Saint" Matthew. The senator's ability to remember the names and faces
of his constituents caused one pundit to remark that "it's a wise Cannon
that knows its own fodder."

They whooped with joy when the senator's plane was delayed by bad
weather; causing him to arrive several hours late to a bonfire rally in
Texas. Only a strong headline writer could resist: CANNON MISSES FIRE!

As a result, the senator's name hit the headlines more frequently than
his rival's did. And the laughter was _with_ Cannon, not _at_ hi