The Al Smith Dinner - TWW S7E6

 

Original airdate: October 30, 2005

Written by: Eli Attie (17) 

Directed by: Lesli Linka Glatter (6)

Synopsis

• The opposing campaigns are on the brink of going full-out negative after a pro-life group airs ads attacking Santos; the abortion topic also hangs heavy over both candidates deciding whether or not to appear at the Al Smith Dinner. Debate negotiations appear to be stalled until Matt makes a surprising offer. Will battles his way through his first days as Communications Director. And Donna makes her return.
  

"How's Sunday night?" 

It's not typical for The West Wing to delve very far into real-world hot-button issues: for one thing, despite what television episodes show you, you can't actually solve intractable policy conflicts in 43 minutes; for another, the last thing a mass-market network TV show wants to do is tick off half of its audience by promoting a point of view they don't care for. Most often the show will give you a quick, simplistic look at a complicated topic (like reparations in Six Meetings Before Lunch or "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" or flag-burning in 20 Hours In L.A.) wrapped into an episode dealing with three other plotlines that are more, well, audience-friendly. That said, there have been a few exceptions: the Gaza-The Birnam Wood arc, where a terrorist bombing that killed a couple of congressmen and Admiral Fitzwallace spurred President Bartlet to magically solve peace in the Middle East is one - and this episode is another.

 

Abortion has been a contentious political topic for a long time. Just to give a quick, probably overly simplistic review, the Supreme Court ruled in 1973 (Roe vs. Wade) that there was a right to abortion, although government also had a right to place restrictions on the procedure, with those restrictions getting stronger as a pregnancy progressed through the first, second, and third trimesters. Naturally that didn't satisfy everyone, but there was a general acceptance of the ruling for about ten years or so.

 

With the rise of religious, evangelical conservatives in the Republican Party, which really got in gear in the 1980s and has only grown since, abortion has become arguably the hot-button issue in American politics. Those believing life begins at the moment of conception, and therefore any abortion is morally wrong, have found growing influence in Republican politics, and that issue has spurred a lot of fiery debate and angry votes over the past 40-ish years. Of course, the administration of Donald Trump in 2017-2021 turned out to be a deciding factor, at least for Roe ... for decades the Republicans said if they were in power, they would name pro-life judges to the federal courts (especially the Supreme Court) and end Roe and the right to abortion. Trump actually did it, taking the judicial nomination recommendations from the Heritage Foundation and sending them directly to a compliant Senate. Thus, in 2022, the Supreme Court handed down the Dobbs decision which essentially reversed the compromise that was Roe.

 

That, of course, came almost two decades after the events we see here, but the ongoing battle between evangelical Republicans and pro-choice Democrats is the centerpiece of this episode. Even though the Republican candidate, Arnie Vinick, is mostly pro-choice himself (only calling for eliminating what he calls "partial birth abortion" and instituting parental notification before minors could get abortions), and his views aren't that far off from the views of Democrat Matt Santos on this subject, a hard-hitting anti-Santos TV ad from an independent pro-life group puts the two campaigns in stark contrast.

(And looking back from 2024 post-Dobbs America, it's almost impossible to believe a national Republican candidate could hold anything close to the views Vinick held, and get any kind of GOP voter support whatsoever. That may have been implausible in 2005; in 2024 it's unthinkable.)

The ad enrages Matt, who knows the soundbite the ad highlights is out of context and misleading ("Do I want to limit access to abortion? No," he's shown saying, which cuts off his explanation of the restrictions and guardrails he does support). The ad doesn't sit well with Vinick, either - making abortion a hot topic in the campaign doesn't really help him with the Republican right, given his general pro-choice views. And the ad also raises the stakes of a full-fledged negative ad blitz by both parties, a scorched-earth approach both Matt and Vinick have been trying to avoid.

The entire topic turns out to be timely, given the Al Smith Dinner and both candidates' reluctance to speak there. The charity event, hosted by the Roman Catholic Archbishop of New York, would seem to be a potential minefield for any pro-choice candidate, given the strong pro-life positions of the Catholics present at the dinner. Both campaigns plan to sidestep the issue by having the vice-presidential candidates speak instead. But - the ad causes Vinick's staff to reconsider. With a non-campaign-related group bringing up this wedge issue, even though Vinick is mostly pro-choice his appearance at the dinner touting his anti-partial-birth-abortion stance could prove to be just the thing to entice doubtful pro-life voters to come home to the Republican ticket. And anything they can do to emphasize the ad's appearance of making Matt a supporter of "abortion on demand for anybody anytime" is a political plus.

 

In the middle of all this negotiations over debates continue, with Vinick and Bruno dragging their feet, not wanting to give Santos any chance to make public hay and cut into their lead, while Josh and Lou are trying not to look too desperate in their efforts to make debates happen. Lou tries a little reverse psychology on Bruno, meeting with him only to sit and refuse to negotiate at all, trying to turn the impetus for getting a deal done on the Vinick camp. But at the moment, all that does is put a full stop on everything.

Matt and his team continue to work on their plans to turn the campaign negative, using the independent advertising attack as justification, even though a negative campaign is the last thing they want. So they try to be careful about it, casting about for a spokesperson who can effectively hit Vinick for his hypocrisy without going too far negative. It turns out Lou finds someone she'd hired to help the campaign in the Midwest who fits the bill.

It's the return of Donna Moss, Josh's longtime loyal assistant who grew frustrated at the lack of opportunities he was giving, who joined the Bob Russell campaign and proved to be a valuable asset until Santos fought his way to the nomination at the convention, who interviewed for a job with the Santos campaign earlier and was sent packing by Josh ("Yeah, but ... I won"). She does a fine job with the press conference, smoothly and effectively dinging Vinick on his positions, but ...

There's a lot of unresolved tension in the air between these two. Lou senses it, and she throws them together in a room to work it out.

Josh: "What kind of on-the-record job experience do you have?"

Donna: "Is this a job interview?"

Josh: "I'm campaign manager, I hire the staff, it generally involves an interview. On-the-record experience?"

Donna: "Six hours ago, nationally televised press conference, Santos-McGarry campaign."

Josh: "References, if we want to pursue this?"

Donna: "Josh Lyman, campaign manager, try the main switchboard."

Josh: "Did he tell you campaigns require loyalty; you don't go working for the other guy?"

Donna: "Who happened to be the party's front-runner."

Josh: "You knew I wasn't supporting him. Me, you mentor in professional politics."

Donna: "The guy who taught me to answer the phone, who kept me in grunt-level servitude 'cause I knew he liked his hamburgers burnt like hockey pucks?"

Josh: "You ditched me when I gave you a career!"

Donna: "As a short-order cook, I'm still waiting for the spatula to --"

Lou breaks it up; she has word of a women's pro-choice group perhaps deciding to endorse Vinick. The Republican. Who's on record as telling religious groups he would nominate pro-life judges to the bench.

That's another issue. The Women's Alliance for Choice has already met with Leo, and let him know they aren't an automatic endorsement for the Democrats and may indeed go with Vinick - because he's "probably going to win" and a pro-choice Republican might embolden even more Republicans to support women's right to choose (oooookay). Although as Vinick and his staff and the Republican Party chairman talk over the offer, they suspect a setup - having a women's pro-choice group come out in support of Arnie Vinick might very well doom him with evangelical, pro-life voters.

All this turmoil and conflict and New Jersey bishops stating they'll deny communion to Santos over his abortion policy and changing tides over the subject lead Matt to decide he's going to the Al Smith dinner too. He can't let Vinick have the event all to himself, and he feels he can make a nuanced pro-choice argument that would appeal to the wide middle of the electorate. Plus, he gets one more chance to talk to the Women's Alliance leader and make his case - after dropping a little bombshell on Leo.

Leo: "You can't let this communion thing bother you. Most Catholics are pro-choice. How do bishops expect politicians to do what they can't do in their own church? And the Bible's silent on the issue; not one word that says it's the destruction of a human life."

Matt (soberly): "It is."

Leo (taken aback): "You're pro-life."

Matt: "I believe life begins at conception."

Leo: "Well, ain't that a kick in the pulpit."

But Matt is smart enough to know being a politician doesn't mean he gets to impose his own morality on his constituents. He personally believes life begins at conception, and abortion is a tragedy - but he also knows women need to be able to have the choice to make for themselves and for their own situations. His conversation with Becca, the Women's Alliance leader, makes it clear - and is also one of the clearest, best-defined, and reasonable explanations of what the pro-choice view should be that you'll ever get in a TV program:

Matt: "What we need to make clear is that we're not hostile to people who are anti-abortion."

Becca: "Pro-choice means anyone can do what they want."

Matt: "Yeah, but it shouldn't mean that we're proud of whatever they choose. Maybe all this chest-beating is the reason the right can get away with that ad; the reason why a leader of my church can exile me for not trying to impose my religion on the rest of the country, and we're surprised that there are people out there who think that we are for unlimited abortion. That there are actually voters, who are pro-choice, that think that we're too extreme."

Becca: "Political posturing aside, precisely what limits are you for?"

Matt: "Do you support abortion to choose the sex of the baby?"

Becca: "Of course not."

Matt: "How about after an IQ test?"

Becca: "No."

Matt: "Well, then you support limits on abortion yourself. Isn't it all a matter of degrees after that? Who are you, who are any of us, to say where someone should draw the line for themselves?"

Becca: "I'd like to know what you're saying tonight."

Matt: "That abortion is a tragedy. That it should be legal, it should be safe; it should be a whole lot rarer than it is now. You have a problem with that, uh, then endorse whoever you want."

All this leads us to the climax of the episode, both candidates, Santos and Vinick, making their way through the Waldorf-Astoria kitchen as they prepare to take the stage at the dinner. We started at neither candidate wanting to touch abortion as an issue in front of a roomful of Catholics and clergy, and now both candidates ares stepping in front of that same audience to make their (slight) differences as stark as possible. They each stand behind a door, lost in their own thoughts, listening to the introductions, then realize the other is standing only a few feet away.

They begin by sniping at each other, Matt blaming Vinick for the attack ad and Vinick expecting Matt to go negative in his speech. As Vinick turns away, chuckling at the notion that a topic they basically agree on is going to fracture everything, Matt has an offer.

Matt: "Then let's negotiate now."

Vinick: "Excuse me?"

Matt: "No backroom tactics. You and me, a real debate."

Vinick: "Oh, please."

Matt: "A real debate. Really."

Vinick: "No negative ads. No attacks in our speeches out there."

Matt: "If we can have a real debate on the issues, just you and me."

Vinick: "How's Sunday night?"

(Matt offers his hand. Vinick shakes it)

Vinick: "It's a hell of a way to end your campaign."

Matt: "Oh, I'm just getting started."

And that sets up we viewers for the following Sunday night, the first Sunday in November, 2005, when The West Wing presented a bold live broadcast of the debate between Arnie Vinick and Matt Santos. But that's next week.

There's a B story here, too, as Will tries to step into Toby's shoes as White House Communications Director. There's a neat little bit where he opens a drawer of Toby's desk and discovers his old Spaldeen rubber ball, the one we saw Toby toss around and use for a thinking aid in episodes back to Ellie and 17 People.

He gets thrown right into the deep end as CJ insists he needs to brief the press right away - but he can't give out any information on Toby, or the leak investigation, or anything else the press wants to know about. Instead, all he's got is administration initiatives on job investments in inner cities.

The press tries to eat him alive, but he just keeps batting away questions on Toby (going "0 for 47" on questions actually answered, he tells CJ). Finally, after a couple of days, he finds CJ is right - the press did punch themselves out, and finally accepted they weren't going to get any of that red-meat information they want from Will.

Will hopes to get a little encouragement or a "well done" from CJ, but she has none of that to give ... until he finds a little ribbon-wrapped Spaldeen on his desk, a little trinket that shows him CJ does appreciate his efforts. But then, as he starts bouncing that ball against the wall while he's on the phone, the ball bounces high, he reaches up to catch it, and:

He's not quite as good as this as Toby was.

In general, The West Wing isn't all that good at deep dives into real-life issues; it doesn't have the time to deal with the complexities of them adequately, and the needs of entertainment television are directly opposed to in-depth policy solutions, especially for issues where the sides are as hard-set as they seem to be with abortion. I think here, there's some nuanced talk from Vinick and especially Matt on the subject (even if the notion of making the Republican guy with a religious conservative running mate actually "pro-choice" while the liberal Democrat who supports abortion rights personally believes life begins at conception is bit too "both sides" pat). That conversation in the hotel with Becca is actually quite good, as far as a defense of protecting abortion rights and women's freedom to choose while still recognizing the moral complications behind the issue. But again, you aren't solving any fractures in the moral soul of America in 43 minutes. I guess you save that for fixing the Middle East, lol.

Nice job of setting up the live debate episode coming up next, though.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- One might think that using a clearly chronologically defined event like the real-life annual Al Smith dinner might bring all the timeline/calendar conflicts we've seen since Things Fall Apart back into agreement.

 

One would be wrong.

 

First off, we see the onscreen lettering telling us it's 63 days before the election. With the election occurring on November 7, 2006, that would place us at Tuesday, September 5. Okay, I can accept that - with the previous episode set in one of the final weekends of August, that'd mean this takes place a little over a week later, that's not crazy ... add that to Chairman Hodder's remark about Santos pulling out of North Dakota and West Virginia being "great news so soon after Labor Day" and that almost fits ...

 

Except we also see Will is just taking over as Communications Director, a job we saw CJ giving to him in the previous episode, which was probably the early hours of Sunday, August 27. At one point ("Day 2" of something according to the onscreen caption, I'm not sure what) a reporter says Will has had the job for four days. There's no way that could be anything later than the last week of August leading up to Saturday, September 2, and is more likely something like Thursday, August 31 or Friday, September 1. That's more than "63 days" before the election.

And then we're given the fact that the actual Al Smith Dinner is always held on the third Thursday of October, and it was held on October 19 in 2006 - just 19 days before the election. Just a reminder, there's still eight episodes before one entitled Two Weeks Out, a time which would be only a few days after the actual 2006 Al Smith Dinner.

Sheesh.

- Another fairly unusual episode in that we see several scenes set inside the White House, but President Bartlet does not appear at all.

 

- Vinick's offer to Matt to debate right away - "How's Sunday night?" - is a bit of an Easter egg for viewers. The West Wing aired on Sunday nights in 2005-2006; with the next episode being telecast live, performed at the same time viewers were seeing it, the debate was, in fact, going to be the next "Sunday night," November 6.

- A couple of neat little moments about life on the campaign trail ... Matt checking out his figure in the mirror with a cookie in his mouth, which he quickly drops back on the plate; and Vinick with a sad-looking fast-food burger for his late dinner in the campaign office. It's got to be tough to eat on any kind of schedule or with any kind of attention to health when you're on the road as much as these guys are.

- A lot of the old West Wing camera-spinning-around-the-characters technique: around Vinick and his staff when they talk about the ad, several times with Will in the briefing room. We also get the technique of Will being seen on TV monitors as we pan across the press briefing room.

- Chairman Hodder tells Vinick that he's the first presidential candidate in 20 years to skip the Al Smith dinner. That statement is true on its face: Walter Mondale opted not to attend the dinner in 1984 (22 years before the setting of this episode) after the previous Democratic candidate, Jimmy Carter, was booed at the 1980 event. The Archdiocese of New York decided not to invite either of the presidential candidates in both 1996 and 2004, likely because (just as this episode shows) there was concern over the Democrats' pro-choice positions.

- The Women's Alliance for Choice considering an endorsement of Vinick just seems absolutely bonkers. I know we're looking at this from 2024, after the Roberts/Alito/Kavanaugh/Coney Barrett Supreme Court axed Roe v. Wade and ushered in a parade of states restricting abortion to the point of banning it (in effect) ... but even in 2005 the show has made it clear the Republican Party is pushing hard for conservative pro-life judges. While we, the viewers, know Vinick is generally pro-choice and favors keeping abortion legal in some cases, as far as the public knows he's promised religious conservatives he'll name the pro-life judges they want. A Republican administration would not be good for the pro-choice camp, even a "pro-choice" Vinick administration. To hear a feminist group like this actually consider endorsing the Republican candidate (with the far-fetched reasoning that more Republicans would "find the courage" to defend pro-choice rights, lol, right) is just not believable in any way. (What definitely is believable, though, is Vinick's absolute horror at the prospect of actually getting that endorsement, and how that would destroy any chance of his keeping the conservative pro-life vote.)

- Matt is introduced at the dinner as the Congressman from Texas' 8th district. We know he's a former mayor of Houston and still lives there; however, the 8th district (at the time) only included the northern suburbs of Houston and reached up into Montgomery County, including Conroe. In 2000, when Matt would have been first elected to Congress, the district was intentionally drawn (by the Democrats) to concentrate as many Republican voters as possible, drawn like a dumbbell to include more conservative areas to the northwest of Houston, including College Station and counties to the south. That district was incredibly Republican; the GOP candidate won with over 90% of the vote in both 2000 and 2002, with the Democrats not even entering a candidate in the race. So the idea of a Democratic mayor of Houston winning the Texas 8th in 2000 and holding it in both 2002 and 2004 is a complete work of fiction.

- We see Gail's fishbowl a couple of times. In both cases the bowl appears empty, except for Gail, of course.

- Why'd They Come Up With The Al Smith Dinner?

All the events of the episode lead us to both Matt and Vinick speaking at the annual Al Smith Dinner, an event hosted by the Archbishop of New York as a fundraiser for Catholic children's charities. Since Al Smith was the first Catholic presidential candidate in American history in 1928, presidential candidates often speak at the dinner during their election campaigns. As Matt says, "It's the most political non-political event in New York."

Quotes    

Matt: "The quote is completely out of context."

Josh: "You remember the quote?"

Matt: "I remember what I think. They make it seem like I'm for abortion on demand."

-----

Will: "I don't really feel comfortable working in Toby's old office."

Margaret: "Think of it as the Communications Director's office."

Will: "I can't help thinking of it as a federal crime scene."

----- 

Margaret: "CJ wanted you to have this revised POTUS schedule."

Will: "You haven't heard back from her about --"

Margaret: "About your request to postpone the briefing?"

Will: "Right."

Margaret: "Unless you count her saying, 'Don't ask if Will can postpone the briefing.'"

Will: "That doesn't count."

Margaret: "Never heard back."

-----

CJ (to Will): "Someone gave the President this Eskimo adage, 'The best place to store surplus food is in someone else's stomach.' Use it in this afternoon's briefing."

(later, at the briefing)

Will: "As the Eskimos said, 'If you store your food in somebody else's stomach' ... um, well (checks notes) ... 'then you'd better hope it doesn't need refrigeration.'"

-----

Josh: "You hired Donna Moss?"

Lou: "No, I picked her off the street and put her on national television."

Josh: "She was the absolute wrong person for that hit on Vinick, didn't we say forty-something with kids?"

Lou: "We said a woman, and she was great."

Josh: "She worked for Russell in the primary."

Lou: "So did half the available Democratic talent."

Josh: "She worked for me before that."

Lou: "Well, that is a strike against her, I can see why you're concerned."

-----

(The Santos staffers are discussing the possible women's group endorsement of Vinick)

Bram: "From a group that's supposedly on our side."

Donna: "They're not 'on our side.' They're on their own side, they're an interest group jockeying for influence. You think their supporters will vote Republican no matter what their leadership says? Poll that. I bet 85 percent of them are dyed in the sackcloth Santos supporters."

(We see it sink in for Josh, realizing Donna is absolutely right)

Josh (to Lou): "Phone Joey with that question for tomorrow's poll."

Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)

• Longtime White House reporter Steve shows up in the briefing room. He's the one who finally gives in to Will's tactic of just not answering questions about Toby.

• Republican Party chairman Hodder is played by Dean Norris (Breaking Bad, Under The Dome, The Big Bang Theory).

• Yay, Donna is back! And making it really tough for Josh to get rid of her, seeing as how Lou brought her onboard and everything. Pretty spicy back-and-forth with the "interview," though - good thing word of the Women's Alliance wanting to meet with Vinick broke, otherwise who knows where that spatula might have ended up ...
  

• Will is setting up in Toby's office, even though in Here Today CJ told him he'd have to use his old one/Annabeth's former office, since the investigation into Toby leaking the secret military space shuttle was still ongoing. Remember, Will being "dragooned" into the Communications Director position happened late at night/early in the morning of what would have been Saturday into Sunday ... at the latest, he's breezing into the office on a Tuesday ("Day 2" it says on the screen, although I don't know Day 2 of what ... Toby's confession? Will taking the Communications Director job?), and carrying his stuff from somewhere besides Annabeth's/his/Sam's old office, so I guess the Counsel's Office did fast work in getting Toby's stuff out of there.
  

• The rubber ball Will finds in the desk drawer (the Spaldeen) was a famous prop of Toby's ever since Ellie (when he'd throw it against Sam's office window to get his attention) and most famously as a helping-Toby-think device in 17 People.

• Several times Vinick's "mixed signals" about judicial appointments or his "promises to the religious right" are brought up. We saw him flat-out lie to the American Christian Assembly guy about appointing pro-life judges in Message Of The Week.
  

• Leo mentions "Vinick's nine-point lead." We first heard that in The Ticket, where the Santos campaign was pretty happy to come out of the convention only nine points down. Then it came up again in Here Today, where the campaign staff was definitely not happy to still be nine points behind more than a month later. Which, again, is kind of weird when you consider the big military boost of Matt's Marine Reserve training in The Mommy Problem and his clever massaging of the school/religion issue in Mr. Frost. He keeps doing things that ought to move the needle, yet it never does.
  

• Some mentions of Joey Lucas, seen first in Take This Sabbath Day as a campaign manager for a California congressional candidate, and ever since as a high-level Democratic pollster. Her last actual appearance was in The Mommy Problem.
  

• Donna's scornful remark to Josh - "The guy who taught me to answer a phone, who kept me in grunt-level servitude 'cause I knew he liked his hamburgers burned like hockey pucks" - is a deep-cut callback.

In Take Out The Trash Day we had this little exchange, as Carol was bringing in a food order:

Donna: "Did they burn the hamburger?"

Carol: "I told them well-done."

Donna: "He likes it beyond well-done. He likes it burnt."

(Josh comes out of his office)

Josh: "Yeah?"

Donna: "Food's here."

Josh: "Did they burn the hamburger?"

Donna: "Yes."

Josh: "Did you check?"

Donna: "I am not checking your food."

• Will's little mishap with the rubber ball when he falls out of his chair reminds us that's never been quite as good with it as Toby was. In Inauguration: Over There he ended up shattering the glass window between their offices trying to bounce that thing off it.

DC location shots    

• None.

They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing    

• The New York Times gets mentioned a bunch, with their article blaming Vinick for dragging his heels on debates.
  

• As Matt is defending the readership of the Times Lou says if they only campaigned for editorial writers they'd have 12 votes, half of them "within walking distance of Zabar's."

• Bruno says Vinick is a "rock star, David Cassidy meets David Rockefeller."
  

• Matt says the Vinick side is lowering debate expectations by calling Santos "the greatest debater since Socrates."

• Naturally Al Smith is a big topic; he was the first Catholic candidate for President in 1928.
  

• Vinick says "It's Michigan! Hug a tree, kill a Chrysler" when Sheila is urging him to talk about environmental issues.
  

• We see the logos for MSNBC and C-SPAN (and CNN, too, if you look really fast). Lou also says they're talking about the anti-Santos ad on CNN, Fox, MSNBC, "and probably the Home Shopping Network."

• CNN/Headline News anchor Chuck Roberts is seen on a TV in the background. There's also a quick glimpse of CNN anchor Wolf Blitzer.

Chuck Roberts

Wolf Blitzer (and the CNN logo)

• Josh says he was able to find the full interview of Matt's quote used in the ad, originally aired on KPRC in Houston. KPRC is the actual NBC affiliate in Houston, Texas. 
  

• "The best place to store surplus food is in someone else's stomach" may be an Eskimo saying (it was apparently quoted as such in the book Nonzero: The Logic Of Human Destiny); some other sources online indicate it's an African proverb.
  

• Will likens his "0 for 47" performance of not answering press questions to the Jamaican bobsledding team, made famous in the 1993 movie Cool Runnings.
  

• Vinick calls Donna "Tippi Hedren."
  

• CJ compares the earmarks on a bill before Congress to "happy hour at the Algonquin."
  

• The Pine Ridge reservation in South Dakota is indeed where the majority of the Oglala tribe resides; while they were commonly referred to as "Sioux," in more recent times tribe members prefer to be called Oglala Lakota. While Will's statement that President Bartlet was the first President to visit an Indian reservation since Franklin Roosevelt in 1936 is true in The West Wing universe, in reality Bill Clinton visited Pine Ridge in 1999 (in The West Wing universe Jed Bartlet was the President in 1999).
  

• Lou says she doesn't care if Donna worked for Spanish fascist Francisco Franco in the primaries.
  

• The bishop of Camden, New Jersey, announcing he'll deny communion to Matt should he attend Mass there because of his pro-choice policy is based on real-life events. The first known such instance happened in California in 1989, when pro-choice candidate Lucy Killea was denied communion by the bishop of San Diego. The topic became a national one in 2004 when Archbishop of St. Louis Raymond Burke announced he would deny communion to Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, because of his position on abortion.
  

• The Waldorf-Astoria is prominently mentioned; it is the actual site of the annual Al Smith Dinner.
  

• Vinick mentions to Hodder about Roe vs. Wade being the law of the land for decades. Of course, that had been true since 1973, but ended thanks to the Roberts Supreme Court decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women's Health Organization in 2022.
  

End credits freeze frame: Lou, Josh, Bram, and Matt walking down a hallway after the event in Michigan.

Previous episode: Here Today

Next episode: The Debate