[applause] >> now, we get to meet novela smith, milton's former campaign manager and friend. >> i would like to thank abbey for asking me to speak today. i'm humbled abbey. thank you very much. most of you don't know me, so i'm going to keep this pretty brief. for those that don't know i was his campaign manager in 2004. he wanted to be board president -- excuse me, that was beautiful because he wanted to refocus the college board. i was really surprised when milton asked me to run his campaign. i didn't know him very well. since i only ran campaigns for people i knew, and for people who are interested in education and children, i was sort of surprised to find him on my door step. excuse me. so i didn't know enough about him to really say "yes" so i decided to ask around about him. l you can imagine the surprise i heard from people. they loved him. he was beloved by everyone that i respected in education and politics, so i decided to call him and meet with him, and on our first meeting we had so much fun that i decided -- who cares? at least i will have fun with this guy. not only did h