Lee Lowder had hoped， after Tony s defeat in the State Sen-<br >ate election， that their life might be given back to them.<br >After all， he had not been a regular politician and had ac-<br >cepted the nomination only because the Democrats had des-<br >perately needed a standard bearer to wage the hopeless if<br >important fight in the Lowders traditionally Republican<br >Manhattan district. And Tony had done better than anyone<br >had dared to predict. He had dragged his much older and<br >bitterly conservative opponent from the confident back<br >rooms of right wing politics to the sound truck and the tele-<br >vision debate; he had attracted statewide notice; he had<br >rolled up the Democratic vote from its usual ~5 percent to a<br >figure so close to 5~ that a recount had been necessary. Ex-<br >Governor Horton had come to see Lee to assure her that<br >there would now be a period of rest and reflection.<br > "We have great ideas for Tony in the party， Lee， but I<br >want to be sure he makes no false steps. He may be only<br >forty-three， but that s no chicken for a man who s just lost his<br >first race. We must use him carefully. The President owes<br >us a Democrat on the Securities and Exchange Commission<br >when Tom Surtees retires this spring. This may be a long<br >shot， but I have a hunch I might swing it for Tony. So I m<br >going to suggest he use the interim to learn the ropes as Spe-<br >cial Assistant to the Regional Director here in New York."<br > Lee had contemplated the sharp， pink eyes in that wide，<br ><br >