Page 354 of Edge of Eternity (The Century 3)

Cam was flattered to be taken so seriously by a presidential campaigner, and he quickly agreed to do what Ehrlichman asked.

His closest friend on campus was Jamie Mulgrove, who like Cam was majoring in Russian and a member of the Young Republicans. They announced the formation of the group, and got some publicity in The Daily Californian, the student newspaper, but only ten people joined.

Cam and Jamie organized a lunchtime meeting to attract members. With Ehrlichman's help, Cam got three prominent California Republicans to speak. He booked a hall that would hold two hundred fifty.

He sent out a press release and this time got a wider response from local newspapers and radio stations intrigued by the counterintuitive idea of Berkeley students supporting Nixon. Several ran stories about the meeting and promised to send reporters.

Sharon McIsaac from the San Francisco Examiner called Cam. "How many members do you have so far?" she asked.

Cam took an instinctive dislike to her pushy tone. "I can't tell you that," he said. "It's like a military secret. Before a battle, you don't let the enemy know how many guns you've got."

"Not many, then," she said sarcastically.

The meeting was shaping up to be a minor media event.

Unfortunately, they could not sell the tickets.

They could have given them away, but that was risky: it could attract left-wing students who would heckle.

Cam still believed that thousands of students were conservative, but he realized they were unwilling to admit it in today's atmosphere. That was cowardly, but politics did not matter much to most people, he knew.

But what was he going to do?

The day before the meeting he had more than two hundred tickets left--and Ehrlichman called. "Just checking, Cam," he said. "How's it shaping up?"

"It's going to be terrific, John," Cam lied.

"Any press interest?"

"Some. I'm expecting a few reporters."

"Sold many tickets?" It was almost as if Ehrlichman could read Cam's mind over the phone.

Cam was caught in his deception and could not backtrack. "A few more to go and we'll be sold out." With luck, Ehrlichman would never know.

Then Ehrlichman dropped his bombshell. "I'll be in San Francisco tomorrow, so I'll come along."

"Great!" said Cam, his heart sinking.

"See you then."

That afternoon, after a class on Dostoevsky, Cam and Jamie stayed in the lecture theater and scratched their heads. Where could they find two hundred Republican students?

"They don't have to be real students," Cam said.

"We don't want the press saying the meeting was packed with stooges," Jamie said anxiously.

"Not stooges. Just Republicans who don't happen to be students."

"I still think it's risky."

"I know. But better than a flop."

"Where are we going to get the bodies?"

"Do you have a number for the Oakland Young Republicans?"

"I do."

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