Then I went to the district leader and told him I could command two votes on election day, Tommy's and my own.

He smiled on me and told me to go ahead.

If I had offered him a speech or a bookful of learnin', he would have said, "Oh, forget it!" That was beginnin' business in a small way, wasn't it?
But that is the only way to become a real lastin' statesman.

I soon branched out.

Two young men in the flat next to mine were school friends--I went to them, just as I went to Tommy, and they agreed to stand by me.