What's up with the use of the Talon?

[Red Larson]

This has been bugging me for at least two episodes now.

What sane man would run his campaign out of a building owned by his opponent?

Lex, as owner, will have the keys to the place and be legally entitled to go in whenever he wants to snoop around to find out what the Kent Campaign is planning.

And of course there's an enormous problem in that the place seems to have been shut down as a coffee shop. There's been nobody peddling muffins or coffee for at least two episodes -- witness the scene last week when JK asked all the campaign workers to leave so he could confront Lois about where the money came from. So to rent the place from Lex to be the campaign office, they would have to have at least paid him as much as the Talon made each month. Surely there were cheaper office spaces for rent in Smallville.


This just makes no sense. Were TPTB just too cheap or lazy to build another set to function as the campaign headquarters?

[ImaVirus]

Well, Lois did end up running his campaign. We saw that early in it, before Lois got the job, they were taking pictures in the Kent House. The campaign headquarters were in Lois's apartment upstairs. We all know she live up there. She even asked Clark if he still had a set of keys to the place. And the party for Jonathan could have easily been help at the Talon. It is a place that can be rented out, and since Lois and Martha worked there, why wouldn't they have it there. Lex I am sure is going to have his party somehwere else, possibly in Metropolis, but we all know he didn't have a party.

That should help explain some of the things.

[SuperVan]

It's owned by Lex, but ran by Lois and Martha, therefore it's neutral ground. Lex even had his pictures taken there.

[Clarkified]

Welcome to the plothole that is Smallville :)

[Red Larson]

Whether it was in Lois' apartment or not is irrelevant. As landlord, Lex has both the ability and the legal right to go in there.

He would be able to see every campaign ad before it began running, and have his responses running to pre-empt them. He would be able to see all their internal polling data (which is the holy of holies in political campaigns). The list goes on.

I've run political campaigns before, and would never, ever rent a facility owned by somebody who wasn't on my side -- let alone from the opponent himself.

[ImaVirus]

The Landlord has no legal right to just walk into an apartment he rents out. They must let the tennant know that they will be going in there. I have been renting for the last 10 years of my life. I should know.

[UpandAtom]

Since Lex owns the Talon, he could've placed bugs or something to see what stuff Lois was up to campaign-wise. Then he could've used that knowledge to plan a counter-attack. Or does Lex's statement of "Do whatever it takes to knock Jonathan Kent out of the race" not apply here.