Thursday, February 4, 2010 - He replied, I dont careI still didnt want to pay...
He replied, I dont careI still didnt want to pay itFor some reason, after all hed said, I blurted out, Let me ask you somethingIf I ran for governor again, would you consider voting for me? He smiled and said, Sure I wouldI went right to the pay phone, called Hillary, told her the story, and said I thought we could win
I spent most of the rest of 1981 traveling and calling around the stateThe Democrats wanted to beat Frank White, and most of my old supporters said theyd be with me if I ranTwo men with a deep love for our state and a passion for politics took a particular interest in helping meMaurice Smith owned a 12,000-acre farm and the bank in his little hometown of BirdeyeHe was about sixty years old, short and thin, with a craggy face and a deep, gravelly voice he used sparingly but to great effectMaurice was smart as a whip and good as goldHe had been active in Arkansas politics a long timeand was a louis vuitton replica handbags genuine progressive Democrat, a virtue his whole family sharedHe didnt have a racist or an elitist bone in his body, and he had supported both my highway program and my education programHe wanted me to run again, and he was prepared to take the lead role in raising the funds necessary to win and in getting support from well-respected people who hadnt been involved beforeHis biggest coup was George Kell, who had made the Hall of Fame playing baseball for the Detroit Tigers and was still the radio announcer for the Tiger gamesThroughout his stellar baseball career, Kell had kept his home in Swifton, the small northeast Arkansas town where he grew upHe was a legend there and had lots of admirers all over the stateAfter we got acquainted, he agreed to serve as the campaign treasurer
Maurices support gave my campaign instant credibility, which was important because no Arkansas governor had ever been elected, gucci watch uk defeated, and elected again, though others had triedBut he gave me much moreHe became my friend, confidant, and advisorI trusted him completelyHe was somewhere between a second father and an older brother to meFor the rest of my time in Arkansas, he was involved in all my campaigns and the work of the governors officeBecause Maurice loved the give-and-take of politics, he was especially effective in pushing my programs in the legislatureHe knew when to fight and when to dealHe kept me out of a lot of the trouble Id had in the first termBy the time I became President, Maurice was in ill healthWe spent one happy evening on the third floor of the White House reminiscing about our times together
I never met a single person who didnt like and respect Maurice SmithA few weeks before he died, Hillary was back in Arkansas and went to the hospital to see himWhen she returned to the White House, she looked at me and said, I dior handbag sale just love that manIn the last week of his life, we talked twice on the telephoneHe told me he didnt think hed get out of the hospital this time and just wanted me to know Im proud of everything we did together and I love youIt was the only time he ever said that
When Maurice died in late 1998, I went home to speak at his funeral, something I had to do too much of as PresidentOn the way down to Arkansas, I thought of all he had done for meHe was finance chairman of all my campaigns, master of ceremonies at every inauguration, my chief of staff, a member of the university board of trustees, director of the Highway Department, chief lobbyist for legislation for the disabledthe favorite cause of his wife, JaneBut most of all, I thought of the day after I lost the 1980 election, when Hillary, Chelsea, and I were standing on the lawn of the Governors MansionAs I slumped under the weight of my defeat, a small man put rolex sea dweller his hand on my shoulder, looked me in the eye, and said in that wonderful raspy voice, Thats all rightI still miss Maurice Smith
The other man in that category was LBill Clark, a man I barely knew before he sought me out in 1981 to discuss what Id have to do to regain the governors officeBill was a strongly built man who loved a good political fight and had a keen understanding of human natureHe was from Fordyce in southeast Arkansas and owned a mill that shaped white oak lumber into staves for the casks that hold sherry and whiskeyHe sold a lot of them in SpainHe also owned a couple of Burger King restaurantsOne day in the early spring, he invited me to go to the races with him at Oaklawn Park in Hot SpringsI had been out of office only a couple of months, and Bill was surprised that so few people came up to our box to say helloInstead of discouraging him, the cool treatment I got fired his competitive white chanel j12 watch replica insti
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