Summary

In Part I, Chapter 1, 22-year-old David Hammond watches the Senator speak on television from Central Park. The Senator’s speech patterns remind David of his pastor, who “died not long before the beginning of the [Senator’s presidential] campaign” (5).

David feels lucky when he soon finds himself fundraising for the campaign. When he was 20, David “flunked out of college” when his girlfriend got pregnant (7). A year later, he started tutoring Thadd Whitlock. Thadd’s mother Beverly once “appeared on the cover of Black Enterprise” and has connections in the city (7). David rarely sees her but she is pleased with his work and overpays him. One day, she suggests he work with “the young junior Senator from Illinois” and helps him secure work with the campaign (10). David’s mom, who he lives with, is skeptical.

David reports to the campaign finance office, where he...