Now it would be a fair fight. Both sides would get to fairly present their case. Well, sort of. Actually, it was over a hundred AT&T lawyers and lobbyists filing tons of documents against me and a solo practitioner lawyer. The lawyer told me things weren’t looking good. But if I lost, he’d give me a discount off the bill. Is this guy nuts? I thought. If we lost, there wasn’t going to be any money to pay anyone’s bills, least of all his.

I needed help from higher up. I needed someone who could counteract the pressure the AT&T lobbyists were putting on the FCC. I visited every congressional chairman and staffer in Washington. They were all sympathetic, but I wasn’t a big contributor and this issue wasn’t going to get them any votes. On the contrary, it might get AT&T pissed off.

It seemed like the only way the FCC wouldn’t rule against us was if the President of the United States personally told them to save IDT. Great. I’m sure that’s just what the President wants to do when he gets up in the morning. Forget about the military situation, taxation, homelessness, and health care. Just go down to the FCC and lobby for us.

On the other hand, what’s to lose? Half the prisoners in the country write directly to the Supreme Court to have their convictions overturned. Why shouldn’t I go directly to the President?

I also had one big advantage all the prisoners lacked. I had Jim Courter as my friend. Jim, who eventually became IDT’s president, was a former congressional colleague and friend of both President Bush and Vice President Quayle and, unbeknownst to him at that time, he would soon be asked to take a Cabinet-level position in the administration. Could he, I asked, possibly get me in to see President Bush so I could tell him how important my new industry was to America’s competitive position in the world and what a disaster it would be if the FCC killed us?

After making inquiries, Jim determined that the President would be away till after the ruling would be issued. “Then I guess we’re finished,” I said.

“Not exactly,” Jim said with a grin. “The Vice President wanted to know if he’d be good enough for you.”

All right! I high-fived him. The Vice President! We’re in business!