Stealing the White House

About the Book

As President Ridley Berenger unwinds after a narrow victory at the polls over John Forrester, strange things happen to some of the electors who will select the next president in the Electoral College… an author of horror books is given a mysterious post-hypnotic suggestion in Texas... the owner of a Los Angeles special effects studio is murdered in her Malibu home... a college basketball coach in Tennessee is blackmailed...

White House aide Larry Richmond, exhausted by the campaign, leaves for a vacation in Daytona Beach with girlfriend Sheila, who is determined to make Larry forget politics long enough to pay attention to her. But their vacation is cut short when Larry’s boss, Pete Winston, shows up on the beach and orders Larry and Sheila to fly to New Mexico to investigate the activity and secrecy at Forrester’s sprawling Heavenly Days complex.

In Albuquerque, Sheila becomes upset when Larry plans to snoop around Heavenly Days by himself.

“I’ll go with you,” she offers.

Larry leans over and kisses her on the forehead. “Sorry, babe. One person will attract less attention.”

“That’s about right. We go off together and you leave me stuck in a hotel room. What am I supposed to do?”

“Go to a movie, go sightseeing, have a kidney operation. Whatever turns you on.”

“All right. I’ll snoop around the hotel lounge.”

Larry does a double-take. “What?”

“This place is crawling with federal bigshots. I’ll find a lusty, doddering old codger and get him so smashed and hell bent to go to bed with me, he won’t care what he tells me. I’ll find out everything you want to know about Heavenly Days.”

“Oh, no. It’s too risky!”

“Nonsense. It’s the least I can do for the country.”

“You’re confusing patriotism with soliciting,” Larry suggests.

At Heavenly Days, Larry discovers Forrester is strangely upbeat for a losing candidate. After some digging, Larry thinks he knows why—Forrester has rigged the Electoral College. He is going to steal the election!

The President is dubious, but the next day runaway electors give Forrester a stunning victory. The country is confused and divided. And, of course, late night television comedians had their say about the mess:

“I don’t know what all the fuss is about,” says Comedy Tonight host Durbin Laterno. “During the campaign politicians raped the public again and again. Forrester stole the election in the Electoral College because he figured one more felony wouldn’t make any difference.”

Another late night comedy host, Paul Braden, claims he has the “perfect solution to end this sorry mess. Some people like the Electoral College and its 538 electors. Some want the vote for president to be by popular vote. Well, obviously, all that needs to be done is to appoint all voters electors. Then, you’d have 104 million electors in the Electoral College and the outcome would be the same as the popular vote!”

President Berenger will fight Forrester in the courts, but the Constitution places few limits on electors. Desperate, the President sends Larry and Sheila on a more dangerous and critical mission ... to stop Forrester by proving he corrupted the Electoral College. As he’s giving Larry his marching orders, the President adds, “By the way, one of the electors on the list is a Texas jackass who couldn’t wait to switch his vote to Forrester. Make him squirm a little. What the hell. Kill him if you have to.”

Winston leans over toward Larry. “He’s joking. He’s been under a lot of stress.”

“Pete’s right,” the President says. “I’ve been under a lot of stress.” He leans over and whispers to Larry, “Kill him anyway.”

Meanwhile, Supreme Court Justices Norman Rutledge and Henry Smathers are trying to figure out why one of their colleagues, Justice Raymond Sylvester, took a secret trip to Heavenly Days. Has Sylvester been corrupted? Perhaps they can stop Forrester from stealing the presidency. But how? Rutledge and Smathers do some detective work of their own. They see Sylveste

About the Author

John Westin has written five novels. A newspaperman for twenty years, he draws on a broad interest in many subjects as background for his novels. The first version of Stealing the White House was written in 1996. His other novels, not yet available on a large scale, include We’re Having a Heat Wave, about a Toledo weatherman who discovers he can control the weather, and The New Heroes, the story of a team of Chicago pseudo-intellectuals who battle teams from other cities on their way to the biggest game of all—the Brains Bowl.