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IN THE FIRST WEEK of August the Providence Herald reported that Richie Cardella’s lead over Doug Fiore now stood at 55 to 45 percent. The Fiore campaign team was delighted with the numbers. They told anyone who would listen that their candidate was climbing steadily in the polls as more and more people got to hear his message. They were confident he would be peaking at just the right time for the September 13th primary.

Two weeks later, Fiore stood in the middle of the living room in Cyril Berman’s suite, fielding questions from Berman, Walsh, and Karp in preparation for another open forum that evening. Cardella’s margin over him had moved back up to twelve points.

“I think we’ve hit a brick wall,” Russell Walsh told the others before the session began. “The positive campaigning brought us to one level. We’re going to have to bring out all of Cardella’s negatives to get beyond where we are.”

“Russ’s right,” Lester Karp said. “I could see contributions begin slowing down when we stopped gaining ground in the polls. This past week was the worst we’ve had. We need something to give us a jump start and wake up our supporters. What do you say, Cyril?”

Berman didn’t look ruffled. He sat at one end of the long sofa, leaning back into the corner where several small pillows were placed for support. He held a drink in his hand. “I say it’s easier said than done,” he answered. “Cardella had four good years as Attorney General, I told you that before. We read every editorial the Herald wrote about the guy during that time. You’d think he was the publisher’s nephew for Chrissake. They loved him, which is why I can’t help feeling they’ll endorse him before the primary.”

The others said nothing, waiting for Berman to continue.

“I think what we ought to do is take a closer look at his law firm and see what kind of connections it has with State government. Maybe we can find something that will let us accuse Cardella of wanting to funnel money from the State coffers to his fellow partners. That would be hitting the jackpot. We should also put a private eye on him. It might help to know where he goes and who he’s with when he leaves his office. With a little luck we may find out he’s fooling around somewhere.”

Berman turned toward Fiore who was thumbing through the latest issue of Rhode Island Monthly Magazine. “How about you, Doug? If we can dig up some dirt on Cardella, do you have any problem using it?”

Fiore looked up from the magazine and was silent just briefly. The things he said earlier about running a clean campaign and not doing anything that would cost him his self-respect flashed through his mind. They weren’t asking him to tell lies. They simply wanted him to reveal Cardella’s negatives, if they found any, in his speeches. He had said earlier that if Richie’s past conduct included anything he now may regret having said or done, it was fair game to remind the public about it. Fiore believed that doing what Cyril suggested did not turn a clean campaign into a dirty one because it was not being dishonest. He looked and sounded very serious when he answered Berman’s question. “We’ve done a lot of work to get where we are, and if that will help us win, I’ll do it.”

Berman smiled at him. “Good. Then we’re all together on this, because Sandy Tarantino thinks we ought to start digging.”