Original airdate: April 9, 2006
Written by: Eli Attie (19) & John Wells (8)
Directed by: Christopher Misiano (34)
Synopsis
- Leo's death hits the Santos campaign team hard, but it also reverberates through election night with voters in the West still making their choices. Possible legal challenges and potential replacement scenarios fly through the air as the outcome of the election hangs in the balance. And it all comes down to Nevada.
"Thanks, boss."
This is a deeply emotional episode. As West Wing viewers, we knew that John Spencer had passed away in December of 2005; with Leo, the character he played, still the Vice Presidential candidate, we knew that real-life event would have to be addressed in the series at some point. It was just all a matter of when and how it would happen on screen.
Having it happen on election night of a razor-close contest, with voters still going to the polls in the western states, makes this a tremendously dramatic moment. But we can't forget, not only has Leo died, the friend and mentor for many of the characters of the series, Spencer himself was a dear friend and close member of the team for many of the actors we see onscreen and the crew behind the cameras. This episode, I believe, helps gives the actors themselves an opportunity to grieve the loss of their friend, to find a bit of closure, while playing out those emotional moments within the story, as their characters.
The first sign of the oncoming tragedy is Donna's face, as she delivers the news of Leo's collapse to Josh:
Then, as Josh and Donna arrive at the hospital, it's Annabeth, her tearful face mascara-streaked, with the terrible news that Leo has passed away:
Josh reacts in shock, his mouth gaping open, as Annabeth falls into his arms:
When the news arrives at the White House, it's CJ who brings it to the President, tears running down her face:
And the President himself, reacting to the knowledge of his longtime friend gone, his trusted fellow traveler who got him into office and served so well and so fully as his Chief of Staff:
Acting is a deeply emotional process in the first place. Actors - at least the convincing ones, the craftful ones - recall emotional moments and feelings to use them to tell a fictional story expressing those same emotions. There's a reason "sense memory" and "emotional memory" are hallmarks of acting classes everywhere (I have a Bachelor's degree in Theatre, believe me, I know). Mourning the loss of the character Leo, when it's also their friend John who has passed away in real life, must have been cathartic for many of them. And it's stunningly effective to us, the viewer, who never personally met Spencer in our lives, but got to know Leo over the past six-plus years.
Leo's death looms large over this entire episode. If you recall in Election Day Part 1, the early returns showed a lot of strength for Matt, to the point some websites were already calling him the winner, the staff was bubbling with optimism, and the Vinick staff was ready to pack it in and console Bruno for doing his best in impossible circumstances. But as the results come in later and later in the evening, the race proves to be anything but decided.
Knowing that things might come down to California and its 55 electoral votes, and seeing as how the polls had not yet closed by the time of Leo's death, the legal and political strategies start to fly. Should the Santos camp try to keep his collapse under wraps, at least until the polls close? Matt rightfully spikes that idea:
Matt: "You want to try and keep this a secret for an hour and a half?"
Louise: "A quarter of the country is still voting."
Matt:
"And I'm asking all four quarters to trust me to be their leader, I am
not hiding the health problems of my Vice President."
Once word of Leo's death goes public, the Vinick camp, particularly Jane and Bob, urge the Senator to start thinking about legal challenges should he lose California, coming up with some shaky grounds of "bait and switch" and "denying the will of the voters" (not to mention Jane's crass comment about how the Democrats must have thought, "Gee, thought he still had a few thousand more miles left in him, oops"). They want him to make a statement urging voters to use Leo's death as a reason to vote for him. Vinick isn't convinced.
Vinick: "You want me to go out there and say people shouldn't vote for Matt Santos ... because Leo McGarry died?"
Sheila: "We have to be very careful, we could create a backlash for ourselves."
Vinick: "How about creating a conscience for ourselves?"
The Democrats are also strategizing about what to do about the ticket. Should Matt start hanging out by the elevators, just in case the perfect VP candidate steps out, so the DNC can give their blessing before the night is over? Should he select someone that the Electoral College can vote for in December; a foregone conclusion, given electoral voters are party stalwarts who will follow the course of the DNC? The argument is made that those choices might upset voters who didn't get to make their voice heard about who the Vice President could be. So perhaps waiting until after the inauguration and using the 25th Amendment to nominate a VP and then having that candidate confirmed by both houses of Congress is the best path (we know how this goes, having seen it back in Jefferson Lives). It's left up in the air - not least because, as Matt says, he hasn't even won the election at this point and the whole thing might be moot.
But the moment cannot last. A surge of late voting in northern California, apparently spurred by the news of Leo's death, has lifted Vinick past the heavily negative polling results in southern California near San Andreo. Vinick takes his home state of California, and with it, an Electoral College lead of 266 to 260. Two states are yet to be called, Oregon and Nevada - and Santos must win them both to take the Presidency.
But even as the nuts and bolts of the election returns come in, we are still dealing with people trying to deal with their grief, people who knew and loved Leo and try to find the moments they can to get through the night without falling apart. A few moments cushion the sadness: in addition to the happy moment of winning Texas, Josh gets a much-needed chance to laugh when he hears about President Bartlet's son-in-law, Doug Westin, getting trounced in his run for the House:
Donna: "And the President's son-in-law?"
Bram: "Double-digit whipping. He's about to concede any minute, it was on CNN."
Louise: "If he can find the podium."
Josh: "Are they playing it as a defeat for the First Family?"
Bram: "I think they're playing it as a victory for his congressional district."
(Josh snorts his way into a chuckle)
And as everyone awaits word on those final states, Josh makes his way to Leo's hotel room. He's there alone, looking at the detritus and Leo's belongings there - the outward signifiers of a man who's no longer present.
Donna finds him. She does her best to reassure Josh that he's doing all he can to uphold Leo's memory, by fighting in the political arena for a candidate he truly believes in.
Donna: "He was so proud of you, Josh."
The Vinick camp continues to press the Senator to consider legal challenges, even after winning California by 80,000 votes (given the actual voter turnout in the 2004 Presidential election of nearly 12.5 million voters in the state, that would be a razor thin margin of about 0.6% of the vote). And as Oregon is at last called for Santos, Nevada is the only state standing, its five electoral votes determining the winner of the election. Sheila, Jane, and Bruno are urging the Senator to get ready for a legal challenge.
Vinick: "I'll be a winner or I'll be a loser. I won't be a sore loser."
Bruno: "Senator, if you win, believe me the Santos people are going to be filing a lawsuit before the Secretary of State of Nevada is finished reading the results."
Sheila: "Sir,
this is it. There are no second acts in American politics, not any more.
You hate this, we all hate this, but if this happens - and you don't
challenge it - you're gonna wake up, in a week, maybe two, and regret it
for the rest of your life."
The Democratic Party lawyers are urging Matt to think about doing the same, should Nevada go to Vinick. He asks Josh for his opinion.
Matt: "Barry Goodwin and the lawyers are planning a march on Washington if we don't win. What do you think?"
Josh: "I think you got some of the best legal minds in the party here."
Matt: "Come on. Straight up."
Josh:
"I think you're young ... smart, the party's presumptive nominee in
four years, win or lose. You take it to court, you're the guy who
screams at the ump because you don't like the call at the plate, nobody
votes for that guy again."
At last, in the early morning hours of Wednesday, the call is made. Nevada goes to Matt Santos. Vinick thinks over the idea of getting the lawyers involved, then asks for the phone - he wants to call Matt to concede and congratulate the President-elect. There will be no challenge.
The Santos war room erupts. Matt, holding Helen in his arms, mouths a "thank you" to Josh.
Josh, his arms wrapped around Donna, mouths back "you're welcome."
As Matt goes to speak to the country, making his victory speech, Josh isn't there. He's still dealing with the grief, the loss of his mentor, the man who helped shape Josh into who he is and taught him so much of what he knows. Leo was the guy who urged Josh to go to New Hampshire to find out about this guy Jed Bartlet, the guy who gave Josh a job in the administration, the guy who stood behind him when Josh nearly lost everything to his PTSD after the Rosslyn shooting, the "as long as I got a job, you got a job" guy. And now, at the moment when Josh has achieved the pinnacle ... Leo isn't there.
Josh, alone in the war room, takes in everything, thinking about his dear friend. Donna, once again looking for him, sees him from the doorway but keeps her distance.
Josh steps toward a photo display on an easel, with moments from the campaign posted there. He looks at a picture of Leo. And he pays his respects.
 |
| "Thanks, boss." |
Tales Of Interest!
- Let's disregard the political realities of whether or not the election could play out the way it does here. I mean, in 2002 we heard Bartlet won the Dakotas, all the Plains states, down through Louisiana ... that seems implausible for any Democrat in today's political climate. But this is fiction, after all ...
These are the states and the electoral votes we are told definitely go to Vinick throughout the episode:
Utah 5
Idaho 4
Montana 3
Wyoming 3
Alaska 3 (assumed by Bruno)
Maine 4
Vermont 3
Iowa 7
California 55
Ohio 20
Florida 27
Arkansas 6
Kentucky 8
Mississippi 6
Virginia 13
West Virginia 5
Indiana 11
Tennessee 11
Kansas 6
Louisiana 9
Nebraska 5
North Dakota 3
South Dakota 3
Oklahoma 7
That adds up to 227 EVs.
And the states we hear that go to Santos, up through the call of Oregon:
Texas 34
Arizona 10
Washington 11
Hawaii 4 (assumed by Bruno)
New Mexico 5
New York 31
New Jersey 15
Pennsylvania 21
South Carolina 8
Illinois 21
Minnesota 10
Wisconsin 10
Oregon 7
That adds up to 187.
By sneaking looks at the electoral maps in both war rooms, we can put together the following, along with the assumption that DC is going to fall into the Democratic column:
For Vinick:
North Carolina 15
Alabama 9
Georgia 15
For Santos:
Missouri 11
DC 3
Colorado 9
Michigan 17
New Hampshire 4
Massachusetts 12
Rhode Island 4
Connecticut 7
Delaware 3
Maryland 10
So that's the math that adds up to 22 states (plus DC) and 267 EVs for Santos, 27 states and 266 EVs for Vinick. Math that requires things like Iowa going Vinick while Missouri goes Santos; South Carolina going to Santos in a sea of Vinick red, or Vermont and Maine going to Vinick in a sea of Santos blue. Things that aren't necessarily crazily out of whack, but do make you scratch your head a bit.
- While we're on the topic of red and blue, it's kind of funny to hear one of the newscasters actually explain the color scheme to his viewers, in the current world of the 2020s where "Red" and "Blue" are practically etched in stone as the tribal symbols of our political parties.
"Once again, to remind our viewers - the red states are Vinick states, the blue states are Santos states. The rest, the white states, are states that have closed their polls but we don't have enough information --"
The idea of using colors to denote which state landed in which party's camp goes back to about 1976, once color TV had become ubiquitous. NBC News, in its coverage of the presidential election that year, used blue lights to denote Republican states, and red for Democratic states. That followed the British political tradition of blue for conservatives, red for liberals. By 1984, CBS News joined ABC News in switching the colors, red for the GOP and blue for the Democrats. CNN went to a similar color scheme in 1992, and NBC followed suit in 1996.
The print media wasn't as unified. Time magazine depicted the 1996 election results using red for the Democrat Bill Clinton and blue for the Republican Bob Dole, and even in 2000 the Washington Post was using red for the Democrats. But things changed in that election, a contentious, razor-thin contest that hinged on the call on one particular state, with results not finally known until long after polls had closed and lawyers filing lawsuits and briefs (sound familiar? That 2000 election was the obvious inspiration for the electoral story of this episode). Colors became vital to help readers and viewers sort out the contest, and media outlets realized a standardized approach would help serve them all. The term "red state" was used in the media for the first time on NBC's The Today Show a week before the election in 2000, and "red state" and "blue state" became commonplace terms in the days and weeks of that election's aftermath.
Perhaps the biggest influencers in standardizing this color scheme were The New York Times and USA Today, both of whom decided to use red for the Republican George W. Bush earlier that year. The graphic that USA Today ran the day after the 2000 election, showing the Republican states as red and the Democratic states as blue, perhaps did more than anything else to entrench the standard.
- Just a note about one moment from Christopher Misiano's direction of this episode. After Donna gives Josh the news of Leo's collapse and discovery by Annabeth, the two race to the hospital. They dash through the hall, get on the elevator ... and wait. It's a silent moment for the two, silence broken only by the faint elevator music in the background, twelve seconds of nothing but their faces, looking at the floor numbers change as the elevator takes them up. It's a real, believable moment, a moment people everywhere have experienced and can relate to - even when you're rushing to be at a loved one's side, sometimes you can't rush any faster, you have to go along with whatever conveyance you're using. And holding on that shot for twelve seconds, with Josh and Donna having no choice but to stand there and wait for the doors to open, is genius.
There's so many more well-composed, deeply affecting images Misiano puts together here: the montage of both campaign war rooms and candidates as they wait through the night; the shot of Leo's glasses and watch in his hotel room; the composing of the shots of Donna and Josh, both in Leo's room and at the end, as she watches him from the doorway while he thanks his mentor and friend for seeing him through. Just a tremendous directing job.
- A TV news anchor says Leo's heart attack was "his second in as many years." The heart attack he suffered at Camp David in The Birnam Wood was in summer of 2004 (even though the dialogue tried to make us think it was the fall of that year). Jane also says, "After his last heart attack they practically wheeled him from the OR straight to the nominating convention." The summer of 2004 was over two years before this episode - the phrase "second in as many years" would usually make us think the heart attacks were just a year or so apart, not more than two, and the nominating convention of 2162 Votes was almost exactly two years since Leo collapsed at Camp David, and months after he returned to work at the White House in 365 Days (which, count the days, was January 20, 2006). Yes, for the viewers, that heart attack was at the beginning of Season 6, broadcast just over a year from what they're watching here - but remember, sometime during the early part of Season 6 we skipped a year. We heard about the midterms already being over in Liftoff (Leo was still in the hospital), and seven episodes later we're getting ready for the New Hampshire primary of January 2006. So perhaps this news anchor had a year of his memories erased, as well.
(I'll step in a moment to address the point that perhaps the events of the end of Season 5 and the beginning of Season 6 actually were in 2005, with the skipped year happening sometime during Season 5. Well, all I can say is ... I can't find it. The beginning of Season 5 follows on immediately after Zoey's kidnapping following her graduation at the end of Season 4, which was spring of 2003. The summer, with Zoey recovering and Abbey escaping DC for New Hampshire as a new Vice President is named, is that same year. When we get to Shutdown, that has to be the same year, unless we're going to say President Bartlet was absolutely powerless for over a year, with Abbey gone from the White House for 15 months or something. Abu el Banat has Doug Westin asking Josh and the President to support him in a run for Congress, which we saw ensue in the 2006 campaign season ... but if this is 2003, that's a year before the 2004 midterms. Did we skip there? Well, considering that episode also has references to the administration being "heroes" for restarting the government, no, it's still 2003. Season 5 continues to play out just like the other seasons, with a State of the Union episode in January, then finishing with what is clearly the spring [Memorial Day aired, unsurprisingly, a week and half before the actual Memorial Day of 2004]. There's just no evidence that time has jumped over the course of that season.)
- After Josh, Donna, and Annabeth return to the war room from the hospital, we see it's 10:40 pm Central Time, and the polls have just closed in the West. Right after that, we're informed Doug Westin endured a double-digit whipping for his race in New Hampshire and is about to concede. It'd be nearly midnight on the East Coast, the polls there had been closed for nearly five hours ... if he got beat that badly, it shouldn't have taken this long for the race to be called, or for him to concede. But it is Doug Westin, so maybe he was holding out for a last-ditch visit from his father-in-law ...
- I believe we learn that, for the first time in eight years or more, the President will have at least one house of Congress controlled by his party. The Vinick staffers lamenting over Democrats taking control of the House and Speaker Haffley sounding "unemployed" confirm that change in the House of Representatives. President Bartlet's entire two terms have seemed to have been plagued by battles with a solidly Republican Congress: Bartlet won his first election in 1998 in a multiple-candidate race, not even receiving a majority of the votes, and it was implied a unified Republican Congress was against him; the 2000 midterms resulted in the exact same party makeup of Congress as 1998, with the Republican Congress continuing; Bartlet's sweeping landslide in 2002 is mentioned multiple times as having no coattails for the Democrats in Congress, and we know Republicans held the House and Senate after that election as we see the Republican Speaker Haffley and the Republican Senate Majority Leader Royce at least as late as Shutdown (which is almost certainly set in 2003, but the West Wing timeline gets pretty hinky around there). And of course, this election night we hear that Speaker Haffley is still in office, but will be losing his speakership with the Democrats taking control of the House. The Republicans will "keep" control of the Senate, we discover - that phrasing indicates the GOP had control of both houses after the 2004 midterms, and therefore, held that control likely since at least the election of 1998.
- There's a quote late in the episode by Josh that practically curdles the blood, given the state of the nation in 2025 after it handily returned a fraud-obsessed, lawsuit-happy, intellectually incurious, vengeful grifter to the Oval Office, and thereby made Josh's statement a sad reminder of a political landscape gone forever:
Josh: "You take it to court, you're the guy who screams at the ump because you don't like the call at the plate, nobody votes for that guy again."
If only that were true today ...
- I've been falling down on the job lately with Emmy nominations; given that Season 7 didn't have all that many, it's understandable, I guess. Anyway ... Mimi Leder, who directed the previous episode, Election Day Part 1, received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Director of a Drama Series (she lost to Jon Cassar for an episode of 24); and Alan Alda won the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series (for his work on Two Weeks Out and the upcoming The Last Hurrah).
- We can see Gail's fishbowl on CJ's desk when she gets the call about Leo, but we can't see what's in it.
- Why'd They Come Up With Election Day Part II?
The answer is obvious after a moment's reflection.
Quotes
Josh: "You think we have enough flags? We still have to convince people we're not agit-prop socialists?"
Ronna: "I think that sometimes, and I work here."
-----
President: "I had to get out of Manchester. Sitting around my daughter's house watching my son-in-law take his much-deserved electoral beating without being able to utter a self-satisfied 'whoop!' was a bit more than I could bear."
-----
Vinick: "This is not about Leo McGarry, that's not why we're weak in southern California. It's San Andreo."
Bob: "Your support of nuclear power isn't why we're weak in Texas, weak in New Mexico, weak in --"
Vinick: "The hell it isn't. This isn't about skin color. Sometimes the voters don't decide. Circumstance decides, history decides."
-----
Matt: "Thanks, Bram. For everything."
Bram: "It's the best thing I've ever done in my life."
Matt: "I think we may find a way to top it."
Story threads, callbacks, and familiar faces (Hey, it's that guy!)
- There's Nancy, the Oval Office assistant played by Martin Sheen's daughter, Renée Estevez.
- The DNC official seen with Barry Goodwin (apparently credited as "Klain") is played by the recognizable character actor Michael Bofshever, who has been seen in The Practice, The Shield, Breaking Bad, Desperate Housewives, and many other shows.
- Sheila (Patricia Richardson) is back! The longtime trusted advisor to Senator Vinick, who resigned in The Cold to shield Bruno from pushback from the RNC, is right there with the Senator on election night, providing strategy and legal ideas.
- Of course Ivan Allen is seen. Allen has played TV news anchors in a plethora of movies and TV shows, including Sicario and Apollo 13, and this is his 26th credit on a West Wing episode. (Paul Moyer also reprises his role as news anchor "Paul Moyer" from Election Day Part 1.)
- The transition guys say they ran the national security part of the victory speech by Nancy McNally. McNally was President Bartlet's National Security Adviser between at least In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen and Liftoff; she was referenced several times in Welcome To Wherever You Are as a national security briefer for Matt - and a potential Secretary of State.
- We
find out how President Bartlet's son-in-law, Doug Westin, fared in his
campaign for the U.S. House seat in New Hampshire. Doug first announced
his plan to run for Congress in Abu el Banat, to the dismay of Josh, the DNC, and Jed himself; he embarrassed Matt in a campaign appearance in New Hampshire in Opposition Research; and his apparent affair with the nanny doomed his attempt to have the President campaign with him in Internal Displacement.
- We don't see Senator Vinick wearing the removable cast on his right hand, or any mention or reference to broken bones in his hand. He suffered a metacarpal fracture and was in considerable pain just two weeks ago (Two Weeks Out); I don't think bones heal that fast.
- Speaking of Two Weeks Out, in that episode Vinick told Bruno and Jane that while a Republican can win the Presidency without winning California, a Democrat can't. The events of this election prove that statement wrong, as Matt loses California but still takes the Electoral College.
- Leo's daughter, Mallory, is mentioned several times. Mallory appeared consistently in the early seasons, as a foil and potential love interest for Sam Seaborn, but hasn't been seen onscreen since Leo's previous heart attack in Third-Day Story, and hasn't had a speaking role since The Stormy Present.
- Speaking of Leo's health, President Bartlet tells CJ they almost lost him 15 years ago. That would have been around 1991 or so, a couple of years before his rehab stint in Sierra Tucson and around the time he was serving as Secretary of Labor. We never heard about that unknown health issue again; of course, Leo suffered a near-fatal heart attack at Camp David at the end of The Birnam Wood and his recovery was depicted in the following episodes. And there was no mention of a previous health emergency during that time frame, either.
- We hear President Bartlet on the phone with his daughter Ellie, saying she and Vic should come to Leo's funeral. Ellie and Vic's wedding (six weeks prior to the election) was shown in The Wedding.
- In the previous episode, as Jane was announcing the opening of the polls in the West ("California, Nevada, Washington, and Idaho"), Bob makes the snide comment about "Like Idaho was ever the linchpin." Turns out it's Nevada, one of the other states Jane mentioned, that ends up being the deciding factor.
DC location shots
- None.
They Do Exist! It's The Real Person, or Thing
- Foo Fighters are seen again, which makes sense since it's the same day as the previous episode, where we saw them rehearsing for their election-night performance.
- There's also a mention of Dave Matthews performing. The Dave Matthews Band was pretty popular in the first decade of the 2000s; his name actually came up before, in The Cold, where he was referred to as performing at Santos rallies.
- We hear Leo has been taken to "Methodist" hospital, which is later referred to as "Texas Methodist Medical Center." There actually is a Houston Methodist hospital in Houston, but not "Texas Methodist."
- Klain's statement about Article 3 Section 1 of the DNC charter giving the party the responsibility of naming a new Vice President is actually correct. Article 3, Section 1, paragraph (c) has as one of the DNC's responsibilities:
"filling vacancies in the nominations for the office of President and Vice President."
- Edie brings up Corona beer, in her talk about the ballroom entertainment.
Edie: "The Foo Fighters finally ran out their playlist, and Dave Matthews is into his third encore and the bar is out of Corona."
- We see logos or hear references to C-SPAN, MSNBC, and CNN. (Also, how refreshingly ancient to see the Republican Vinick - even a moderate, or more accurately, wild-eyed liberal Republican by today's standards - watching news on MSNBC instead of Fox News. Of course, MSNBC is corporately linked to NBC, which aired The West Wing, so I get it, but there were other non-specific fictional news networks used on the show, too.)
- After Texas is called for Matt, the Santos campaign workers celebrate in the hotel corridor singing Deep In The Heart Of Texas, a song first made popular, of course, in the 1985 film Pee Wee's Big Adventure. (Just kidding, the song was written in 1941 and has long been an unofficial anthem for the state.)
- With Nevada hanging in the balance Josh tells Matt he should have had him headlining a show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.
- U2's song Beautiful Day plays as Matt and Helen take the stage for the victory speech. Bono, U2's lead singer, was brought up in The Cold as wanting to meet Matt.
End credits freeze frame: Matt and Helen greeting the crowd after his victory.
