Original subtitles

stalled on your poli -sci paper.

What makes you say that?

Well, if you make one more animal, you're going to have to build a paper

No problem.

I've got nothing but blank pages.

Please, Tia, I'm just not feeling these ancient Greeks.

You're not feeling Aristotle's politics?

Mm -mm.

Girl, I love this book!

Same womb, different planet.

Especially Aristotle's theory about the differences between good citizens and

good people.

Tia, that's what I wasn't feeling. I mean, that good citizen, good people

has nothing to do with the way politics works today.

Tamara, it has everything to do with politics today.

Look at Ray's election.

You know, you're right.

I should write it on my dad's election.

Yeah, and you might want to start with a quote from book one, chapter two.

Well, here it comes.

She gives me one good idea, and I'm going to have to listen to her babble

night.

There. Man is by nature a political animal.

Are you getting all of this? If I close my eyes, maybe she'll disappear.

Girl, you better open up your eyes.

We've got work to do.

Stop napping and start tapping.

This just in.

Twin throw sister from garage apartment window.

Story at 11.

Everybody see how different we have come to be.

Even though I'm glad to be with you, I thought I'd feel what's real for me.

you got to do what's right for you.

In his ancient bestseller, Politics, Aristotle writes that there's a

between being a good person and being a good citizen.

I didn't fully understand that difference until I witnessed it

father's campaign for state senate.

Being new to politics, Dad chose Clifton McNair, an experienced strategist, as

his campaign manager.

It didn't take us long to realize how much we had to learn.

Ladies and gentlemen, our next state senator, my father...

Can I say my dad?

May I say? No, you may not.

Father says senator. Dad says Homer Simpson.

And mom says let's get on with this. My butt is getting numb.

Ladies and gentlemen, our next state senator, my father, Ray Campbell. And we

stand and dance. Wait a minute, I have a question. Which you'll hold for later.

Thank you very much. You know, I stand before you. Okay, hold it right there.

What are you doing?

Nothing.

Exactly. You're supposed to be admiring.

All eyes are on the senator, ladies. And don't just look at him.

Adore him.

Adore? Well, that's just right. Not the baby Jesus.

That's better.

Speech begins.

Thank you.

I stand before you a man with a vision.

But Clifton, I want you to hear the rest of the speech. I put in some facts

about health care for the elderly.

Facts? Great. Facts just confuse people, especially the elderly.

But Clifton, the lack of health care for the elderly is shocking. People need to

hear this.

Senator, I've won 17 straight campaigns. And if you want to make it 18, you have

to do it my way. And we're waving, we're waving, we're waving, we're waving.

Girls, put some more wristband to it. Oh, good.

Are you with us, Senator?

Uh, yeah.

Clinton's desire to win was contagious.

No detail of the campaign escaped his watchful eye.

Even the volunteers.

Alert the media. The election's over and raise the new senator.

Man, you're working too hard. The election's not for two weeks.

Oh, my bad, my bad.

I just saw three blackers.

sitting here stuffing themselves instead of envelopes, I figured our work was

done. But wait a minute, Clinton. Now, we have been very busy. We spent the

whole morning rigging my car with loudspeakers so we could drive around

screaming, vote for Campbell!

You only do that on election day.

What, you mean I gotta keep that PA system tied to my roof for two whole

Cool.

We put up post -its.

Passed out flyers and dropped off five sexes, ma 'am. Five.

Did you knock on doors, man the phones, and coordinate rides to the polls?

Well, uh... I need gas.

Listen!

Do we have to wear this?

Yes, you look adorable.

We look like we just blew in from the little hulk in the prairie.

Guys,

Martha Stewart called.

She wants her tablecloths back.

That's it. These dresses are going back. I am not... Hold up, ladies. Hold up.

Tia and Tamara are making the kind of personal sacrifice it's going to take to

get re -elected.

I know that's right.

Yeah, huh?

What are you guys going to do?

Well, whatever we do, we're going to look good doing it.

That's right.

Now, that is the attitude that I'm talking about. Look, this campaign has

be a team effort. And if we're going to win the championship, we need a strong

bench. And that's you.

Now... Are we the Clippers?

Are we the Bulls?

Let's do this.

Are we

ready to hit the campaign trail, Senator?

Everyone except Lisa!

Lisa! Oh, Clifton. Look, now, I am not leaving this house looking like I'm

to fly to friendly skies.

I, for one, think all of you look beautiful.

Lying already.

Send a man to the Capitol. I'm trying to. Now let's get this campaign on the

road. I hope it's a back road.

So we batted our eyes and wiggled our elbows and made Dad look like the

I'd hoped things might get interesting once we started meeting people.

But there wasn't much time to talk between camera flashes.

The funny thing is, Clifton knew what he was doing.

It was as if Dad's numbers in the polls increased with every hand he shook and

baby he kissed.

Oh, Campbell's got my book.

Clifton taught us that in campaigning, less is more, which meant we met more

more people, but we spoke to them less and less.

Thank you so much.

We really couldn't get by without this extra help.

You're very welcome.

Oh, yeah, and if I'm elected, I promise to keep programs like this going and

growing. Okay, that's a wrap. Let's move.

You know, if you dig deep, I hit some Skittle to me.

That's awfully nice of you.

Oh, it's my pleasure. I grew up not too far from here myself.

I remember when a TV dinner used to mean watching other people eat their dinner

on TV.

I thought I was the only one that used to do that.

Too much information, not enough time.

You know, another thing that I'm working on... It's time to go, Sammy.

Uh, hold on, McClifton. I want to talk to the family. Oh, dear.

Those are boats you already have, Ray. There are 50 you still need on the

I'm not talking about boats. I'm talking about people. How can I help them if I

don't know what they need?

They need you in office.

Trust me.

Yeah, well, I suppose you're right.

Can't help it if I don't get elected.

After a week of nonstop campaigning, the polls showed that Dad was within two

points of the frontrunner, Councilwoman Hicks.

Of course, to Clifton, within two points was still missing the butt.

And he wasn't going to let us stop until we were two points ahead.

Trey, place it with me before somebody gets hurt.

Oh, jeez.

Oh, Lord.

Oh, my dog's a -barking.

I'm ready to sue Dr. Scholl for malpractice.

Hey, guys, how did the campaigning go?

Oh, well, Ray wilded the auto plant. Too bad Clifton wouldn't let us talk to any

of them.

Well, Clifton says it's not how many people you see, but how many people see

you. You know, Ray, have you noticed that everything you say lately starts

what Clifton says?

What is it that you say?

Well, I mean, Clinton's just doing his job.

After all, he's won... 17 campaigns.

Look, look, I don't always agree with his methods, but this is how the process

works. Hey, hey, hey, hey, what are you people still doing up? You got a huge

day tomorrow.

Everyone to bed. You ain't got to tell me twice.

You ain't got to tell me at all. I'm already snoring.

Not so fast, boys.

I want to tell you a little story.

I'm driving over here this evening, and I pull up to a stop sign. Like the good

driver that I am, I look to my left, I look to my right.

What do you think I see?

Oncoming traffic?

Campaign posters.

On every fence, every storefront, every lawn.

Well, you know, me and my crew, we got out there and had our business.

That's all.

They were posters for Councilwoman Hicks. Well, you know.

That's not good.

It's worse than not good. The election is a week away, and Ray is still behind

in the polls.

It's time to bring in the bench.

Well, okay.

I'm gonna go get the bench.

So we are at the bench.

Oh.

T, it's crunch time.

Now, here's the challenge.

Every Hicks poster is a vote against Ray.

What do you want us to do?

The question is...

What are you willing to do?

As the election got closer, Clifton made us believe we should stop at nothing to

win.

The

problem

with that, as Aristotle might say, was we were so focused on putting a good

citizen in office.

that we forgot about being good people.

Finally, a morning off. Yeah.

Now I can go over the tapes from the classes I missed all week.

You got tapes?

Of course.

What was I supposed to do? Get a copy of somebody else's notes and just wing it?

Oh, please.

Right.

Copy somebody else's notes.

How silly.

Hey, morning, baby.

Hi. Were my notes helpful?

Oh, yeah.

Hey, where's Clifton?

Oh, he took Dad and Lisa to the Big Brother's breakfast.

Hey, I was the Big Brother one, but it didn't work out.

Really? Yeah, Kit thought I was a little too needy.

Guys?

Oh. Look what I found in our trash can.

How did those get in there?

Judd, in the trash doesn't mean in Ray's trash.

Couldn't you drop him by the side of the road or something?

Come on, that's littering.

This is still America.

Are you guys crazy?

It's illegal to take down your opponent's sign. You guys, this could

the election. What were you thinking?

We were thinking that every sign was a vote against Ray.

Yeah, and right now there's over 150 votes in your garbage.

Clifton said that the bitch did it.

Clifton? Now this is making sense.

Okay, whatever we do, we just better get this stuff out of here before my dad

comes home.

Somebody

better

start talking.

And it better be good.

What's going on here?

Where'd you get this sign?

In that big pile out there in our garbage.

Tell me this isn't what it looks like.

What possessed you to do this?

Yeah, what possessed you to do this?

I don't believe you.

Yeah, I thought we were a team, the Bulls, remember?

Yeah, I think we just got traded.

Well, from what I can tell, Dad, Clifton told the guys to put down Hick's signs

and put up yours.

I didn't tell them to do anything.

Then what are they talking about?

Senator, we're in a war here.

And we have to use every available strategy in order for us... So you were

behind it?

Well, technically, yes.

But if you'll just let me finish, I can... Hey, you are finished, Clifton.

From here on out, you're no longer my campaign manager.

Oh, really?

Well, who's going to run your campaign, Ray? The ex -con or the half -wit?

Hey, Jordan is no half -wit.

Oh, maybe the Doubleman twins can run the campaign.

Maybe. You better leave while you can still chew, Double.

Get out of my house, Clifton.

Okay, I'll go.

But any chance you have of winning this election is walking out that door with

me.

Dad, I can't believe your campaign is ending like this.

Yeah, I am really sorry, Ray.

There's nothing to be sorry for, Tia.

This campaign...

It's just getting started.

That's right, Ray. Keep hope alive.

And this time, we're going to run this campaign the right way.

No more of those short trips and quick sound bites. We're going back to the

community, and this time, we're going to make a difference. Now, are you with

me, team? Yeah.

Down the last boat, Ray.

I was so proud of my dad.

For the first time in the campaign, people were going to see the real Ray

Campbell.

With Clifton gone, the cameras didn't flash nearly as much.

But Dad said, the further away we got from the press, the closer we got to the

people in the community.

You know, Jim, if we turn some of these closed -down factories into computer

training centers, we could teach some of these older citizens of new technology.

Get them ready for the new millennium.

If you don't start flipping some burgers, we won't be eating until the

millennium.

On behalf of the Community Blood Bank, I want to thank all of you for coming

out. Your donation today will help someone survive tomorrow.

And I hope that on election day you'll vote for me, because I'm a candidate

who's not afraid to stand up for the people.

The political pundits were amazed that without a campaign machine, Dad had not

slipped in the polls.

In fact, he had even moved up.

By election day, Dad and Councilwoman Hicks were in a dead heat.

So every vote counted.

Well, here we are.

Ready to vote.

Voting.

Wow. Do you know how important this is? Do you know how many people fought for

this? Yes, Tamara.

You know, women couldn't always vote.

Black people couldn't always vote.

Don't get us.

Black women vote.

It's her first time.

Sign in here.

Hey, who'd you pick for state treasurer? Chud, get out of my booth. This is a

secret ballot.

Just wanted to make sure you know the rules.

Hey, who'd you pick for state treasurer?

Didn't I kick you out of the attorney general? Get in your room.

Don't forget to let me know when you get to state treasurer, okay?

Here I am, alone with my vote.

This is it.

I'm about to make a difference.

About to make this world a better place for you and me.

Shut up!

I did it.

Now I know how Miss Jane Pittman must have felt.

Just drop it in the box.

Did I mention that, um, my father's running for state senator?

Then why did you vote for Councilwoman Hicks?

Can I have two of them?

Thanks.

This is my second time to vote.

Do you guys know how important this is?

Do you know how many people fought for this?

You know, women couldn't always vote.

Now, the most nerve -wracking part of any campaign is election night.

After all those months of hard work, our fate was in the hands of the people.

We were all dressed up for a party that we might never get to go to.

We are down to the wire, and it is still much too close to call. At last report,

Campbell was still just hanging on to a narrow lead.

the vote, I would like to propose a toast to our man, Ray Campbell.

To the next... What is it you want to forget?

No, we're just joking, Ray.

But win or lose, I'm proud to be part of your team.

But you better win because I paid way too much for this dress to be going to

some loser's ball.

And I'm proud to call the next state senator my dad.

I mean, my father.

Speech, speech, speech!

Well, I want to thank all of you from the bottom of my heart.

Oh, hush up, Ray, and find a return there.

A bill in this hotly, hotly contested 5th State Senate District race. Now with

98 % of the precincts reporting, Channel 5 is now projecting the winner to be...

Yes!

...Councilwoman Martha Hicks.

We were so close!

I can't believe we lost.

And we are live here at the campaign party for State Senator -elect Martha

Hicks. Congratulations, Senator. Tell me, what are your first priorities now

that you're in office?

I have a wealth of new ideas that I'm taking to the Capitol with me.

Project food for families, guaranteed health insurance for the elderly, and re

-educating our workforce for the new millennium.

Jagway, those are all your ideas.

Yeah, she jacked your platform.

I say we go key her car.

Look,

I can't say that I'm not disappointed that I lost.

Disappointed?

You see, Lisa, everyone in this room has made a difference, especially my

family.

Before this campaign, all Hicks talked about was tax breaks for the rich.

But because of us, she's now made a promise to the people that I intend to

sure she keeps.

So in a way, we won after all.

Exactly. Now, look, I'm going to go outside and meet the press and

Councilwoman Hicks.

Oh, I'll go with you, Ray. This new dress deserves some kind of TV time.

There he is.

Here, sir, here, sir.

Mr. Campbell, over here.

That night, I understood what Aristotle meant by the difference between a good

citizen and a good person.

Participating in the political process makes you a good citizen.

Standing by your convictions makes you both.

You look adorable.

We look like we just blew in from the House of the Prairie.

Guys?

Too bad Clifton didn't let us talk to any of them.

You know, Clifton says it's not how many people see you, but how many people...

You. You see.

Can we all just kind of like take a nap?

Take a nap.

You say nap.

15, 20 minutes.