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((The Mon/Wen/Fri Double -- page 2 of 2))
'You've been following Lorentian politics,' Hanton observed.

'I do it for all of Atreya's neighbors,' said Voreese.

'How long have you been haunting Atreya?' said Hanton.

Voreese paused. 'That supposed to be an insult?'

'Oh, is "haunting" not the proper word?' said Hanton. 'I meant no disrespect. I would have asked how long you had been "living" there, but that word does not seem appropriate, either.'

'Heh, yeah, well, I guess haunting is fine,' said Voreese.

'We've been known to use that term ourselves occasionally,' added Garovel. 'I think Voreese is just looking for an excuse to get into an argument.'

'Oho! You lookin' to throw down, Gary?'

'Maybe later.'

'Hmph.'

Hanton took hold of the conversation again. 'In any case, as a result of that hectic election, Dance's presidency has been marred by a larger-than-usual amount of distrust among the general public.'

Hector had to ask. "What's your opinion of him?"

'Mine?' said Hanton. 'Well, going on policy alone, I would say that he is actually not doing a bad job. He has an image for being corrupt, but it seems to me that he has worked hard to regain public trust.'

"If the public thinks he's so corrupt, then why did they vote for him in the first place?" said Roman.

'The answer to that would depend on whom you ask,' said Hanton. 'His more extreme opponents would tell you that the public did NOT, in fact, vote for him, and that the entire election was rigged.'

"Hmm," hummed Roman, "but I'm not asking them. I'm asking you."

'Ah. In my view, the public simply viewed him as the better of two bad options. Griffon's replacement was barely even a candidate.'

'Same,' said Voreese. 'I don't think Dance is that bad of a dude. I mean, he might be, but as far I've been able to tell, he hasn't committed any crimes against humanity.'

'I think your standards might be a little too low,' said Garovel.