The Best Man

A wry‑tongued journalist‑philosopher opens the story by stripping away political euphemisms and laying bare a small town where both parties have been reduced to interchangeable graft. He introduces two lifelong friends—Williard, a handsome, affluent Republican club‑man, and Newcomb, a diligent, modest Democratic attorney—who are suddenly thrust into the mayoral race as the town’s only respectable options. Their candidacies become a mirror for the narrator’s contempt for party pretensions and the way power slips into the hands of the well‑connected.

The campaign spirals into a dance of rumors, whispered dinners with entertainers, and high‑stakes poker, all while women at the breakfast table quietly steer the political tide. As voters grow weary of alternating corruption, an independent movement begins to stir, promising a break from the entrenched two‑party rot. Listeners are treated to sharp satire, keen observations on ambition and friendship, and a vivid portrait of a community teetering between cynicism and the faint hope of genuine change.