Running Mates - TWW S7E10

 

Original airdate: January 8, 2006

Written by: Peter Noah (7)

Directed by: Paul McCrane (1)

Synopsis

• Tensions run extremely high when it appears Leo is totally unprepared for the VP debate. There's more tension on the Santos homefront as Helen deals with some unexpected exposure. Will and Kate actually have a date, of sorts.
  

"Yeah, Josh? About the VP debate Sunday ... we may have a problem." 

I begin this entry the same way the episode began on that Sunday night in 2006: a sweater-clad Martin Sheen speaking directly to the audience with the sad news that John Spencer had passed away three weeks prior, on December 16.

 

Spencer's death from a heart attack eerily echoed the character of Leo McGarry, who nearly died of a heart attack he suffered in The Birnam Wood. Spencer, like Leo, was also a recovering alcoholic - Spencer quit drinking in 1989, while Leo went to rehab for alcohol and drug abuse while he was Secretary of Labor in 1993 (or was it 1995? The show's timeline is unclear between what we learned in The Short List and what we were shown in Ninety Miles Away).

 

Spencer's death is a stunning turn of events for the series that will reverberate through the end of the season. Leo only appears in one more episode (The Cold) of the five remaining before the death of Spencer/Leo is addressed, but Sheen touchingly steps up to acknowledge his work and the legacy he left behind:

Sheen: "Through our shock and grief, we can think of no more fitting memorial to this wonderful man, this extraordinary actor, than to share with you, beginning tonight, the last few months of his work here on The West Wing."

It's perfectly fitting, then, that this episode features Leo so prominently. We see him preparing for the vice presidential debate against Ray Sullivan, going through a practice session just two days before ... and things are not going well. Leo fumbles his words, can't settle on the framing of answers the campaign had settled on, sees Otto (in his role as Sullivan) taking him apart, and finally crumbles knowing he's so far off from the performance he's going to need on national television.

The campaign staff in the room is, well, let's say concerned. Panicked, even. When Josh gets a look at the taped footage of the practice, he ends up destroying the evidence so nobody else can ever see it.

Shoutout to the VHS era

Josh and Lou are desperate to keep news of Leo's stumbles under wraps, to prevent the idea of an unprepared neophyte candidate not being up to the role of Vice President ... but then a blogger gets word of the session and it's all over the internet. The mood at the Vinick/Sullivan campaign is sheer giddiness, or as Bob puts it, "Yippee!" (off the record, of course). The Sullivan camp is even talking about going easy on Leo, so as not to look like he's "kicking a cripple."

Josh is scrambling to do damage control on the leak, even as he and Lou and the rest of the staff frantically put Leo through more practice sessions. Josh is sure one of the inner circle had to be the leaker, since they were the only ones aware of Leo's struggles, which leads to this little exchange that really highlights the personal lives of those enmeshed in a high-stakes national political campaign:

Lou: "You can't seriously think it's one of us."

Josh: "You told a friend, they told a friend, the friend told the Washington Post."

Lou: "I haven't spoken to a friend in two months."

Annabeth: "I don't think I have any friends left."

Ronna: "All of my friends are in this room."

Lou: "Okay, you win most pathetic."

Annabeth is doing her best to keep Leo in the right frame of mind, and also trying to keep him looking good. Their whole conversation about Leo's "smirk" is a highlight of the episode.

Annabeth: "None of this is your problem."

Leo: "You're going to tell me what is."

Annabeth: "Your smirk."

Leo: "My what?"

Annabeth: "Yeah, you're doing it now."

Leo: "No, I'm not."

Annabeth: "It's your default expression, Leo."

Leo: "What are you talk --"

(He looks into the mirror)

Leo: "That's a scowl. I'm scowling, which is, in itself, probably not great. That's the way my mouth forms."

Annabeth: "From decades of smirking. In the right context, extremely effective; commanding, reassuring, even devastatingly sexy."

Leo: "Sexy?"

Annabeth: "In the right context. In a debate, in the best of circumstances it reads as smug and condescending. In the context where you're getting waxed by your opponent it comes off as clueless, defensive, and not a little pathetic."

I have to say, the developing sorta-relationship between these two is just adorable. We saw that Annabeth, of course, left the White House Communications department to help run Leo's campaign in The Ticket. She seemed to be quite flirty in Mr. Frost, falling asleep on Leo's shoulder while holding his hand on the airplane, then telling him they should maybe not spend so much time together "because of the tension" ("What tension?" Leo replied cluelessly). Her consistent comments about Leo being "sexy" or "gorgeous" continue here, even while Leo just goes along being Leo. It's cute. (It also becomes tragic when we get to the end of Leo's storyline, but that's yet to come.) And then, of course, Annabeth's breathless reaction when Leo smirks at her again on the way to the debate stage:

Josh nearly goes ballistic on Sunday, the actual day of the debate, when Leo blows off the practice sessions the staff had set up and says he'll just take it easy and rest up until the time actually comes. Josh goes to Leo's apartment to see if there's anything he can do to salvage what's sure to be a disaster for the campaign - and during the conversation we get this sneaky little grin from Leo when Josh isn't looking.

It's the first clue we have that Leo might have something up his sleeve, and when the debate actually comes, he performs smoothly and confidently, which shocks Josh, Lou, and the rest of the campaign staff while causing some consternation among the Sullivan staffers ("I never said he'd gibber like a gibbon," says Bob). Josh is so surprised and elated that this happens:

Josh: "I could kiss somebody."

(He looks over at Lou, who rolls her eyes and keeps watching the TV)

Josh: "Or, you know ... not."

Turns out, Leo had been sandbagging - at least during Saturday and Sunday - and it was Leo himself who leaked word about his horrible debate preparation.

Annabeth: "What was all this about?"

Leo: "The truth?"

Annabeth: "Yeah."

Leo: "I was really that lost."

Annabeth: "Oh, come on."

Leo: "Couching answers in tame, time-pressured sound bites. And then when Josh wouldn't even show me that tape, it scared me to death. So I leaked it."

Annabeth: "You did?"

Leo: "I was worried he was so worried, he wouldn't."

Leo himself lowered expectations, then set his mind to exceeding them, without letting on to Josh or anyone else on the staff. A brilliant kind of bait-and-switch, which only prevented Josh getting mad because it worked so well.

It's a wonderful episode for John Spencer to be coupled with those words from Martin Sheen at the opening.

Meanwhile, Matt is heading home for his last visit before the election (this is late September, so he'll be in full-out campaign travel mode for the next five-plus weeks). He gets a taste of what Helen and his kids have been going through - the heavy security presence, the bullet-proof glass in the house windows, the anti-abortion protesters down the street, the shutting down of the entire neighborhood if he just wants to go get the mail - but it doesn't really sink in. Matt is still heavily involved in campaign issues, joking with the staff around the dining room table, taking a phone call while he's supposed to be playing games with his kids ... and that doesn't sit well with Helen. It's especially galling for her considering this is the last time he'll be home for over a month. It doesn't help that his shady brother drops by, hoping to gain some benefits for his business partners by getting face time with a presidential candidate.

The family tensions explode when a tabloid runs a photograph that shows Helen's (somewhat racy) underwear - what appears to be a red thong (along with a portion of a lower back tattoo, it seems).

(I actually hadn't noticed in previous watches that you actually see this same shot when we're watching Matt first come home and greet his family earlier in the episode. I guess part of that is emphasizing this isn't all that big a deal in actuality, but gets blown far out of proportion by the tabloid coverage.)

A furious Matt is instantly on the phone with the publisher to read him the riot act, while a frustrated Helen feels powerless to do anything about it - except tell Matt she and the kids are done taking the time to traipse around the country as campaign props. She's not even sure she wants Matt's dream to come true.

Helen: "Well, I'm not running for President."

Donna: "With all due respect, we both know you're not that naive. The option to be left alone took a hit when the Congressman signed on to run, and pretty much got obliterated when he won the nomination. It'll be a distant memory when he wins this thing. It might be time for you to start talking about the kind of First Lady you want to be. I'd like to help you out with that if you'll let me."

Helen: "I can't tell you what kind of First Lady I'd like to be. I'm too busy deciding if I want him to win."

That discussion with Donna, though, and some time to reflect brings Helen back around, and as Matt heads back out on the campaign trail she tells him she and the kids will be out there with him.

Matt: "So, I'll see you in Phoenix on Thursday."

Helen: "I'll be there."

Matt: "I hear that the hotel's got this water slide."

Helen: "I will pack a Victorian bathing dress."

Matt: "I meant for the --"

Helen (smiling): "I know what you meant."

The Matt-home-visit story comes full circle as he rides in his motorcade to the airport. After spending time with his sniffly-nosed kids (wiping their noses on his shoulder), he sneezes. He's bringing a little bit of home back with him on the campaign, lol.

We get a little bit of Toby as well (Josh calls him for advice about Leo's horrific debate prep - although isn't it weird that Toby's in a courthouse awaiting some kind of formal legal action on a Sunday?), but the other bit of plot involves those two lovebirds, Kate and Will.

The story of these two goes back to Drought Conditions, when Kate was trying to let Charlie set her up for a date (which turned out to be one of her ex-husbands), and when she and Will ended up next to each other at the DNC gala snack table they kept exchanging glances at one another. In Undecideds Kate definitely spent a longer-than-necessary time watching Will's backside walk out of CJ's office; and in The Wedding Kate asked Will to be her plus-one at the ceremony. Now, as they spar over how much information Kate can let Will have to give to the press over Kazakhstan, Will is feeling enamored enough to ask her to dinner.

A dinner which turns out to be a take-out meal enjoyed at Will's desk while they watch the vice presidential debate, but well, you know ... not a lot of time to spare for busy West Wing staffers.

So, gee ... lovebirds Will and Kate (no, not the royal ones, these ones), flirty Annabeth and Leo, and the working-through-personal-issues-affected-by-the-campaign Helen and Matt. Quite a romantic episode, all in all, with Leo's "devastatingly sexy" smirk leading the way.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- This episode takes place over a Friday through Sunday approximately six weeks before the election. Since the previous episode (The Wedding) was also over a weekend about six weeks before the election, we can surmise Ellie's wedding was on Saturday, September 23, 2006, and this episode covers September 29 through October 1, 2006.

 

- I'm just noticing that many of these episodes ... and several of them in a row ... are set over weekends. I wonder if that was a conscious decision by the show's writers, given the move by NBC to air the show on Sunday nights for Season 7.

- Isn't it odd that Toby is in a courthouse somewhere awaiting some kind of interview/deposition/activity on his indictment for leaking information on the secret military space shuttle on a Sunday? There aren't typically court activities taking place on Sundays.

- When Donna tells Helen she knows how she feels after the underwear-tabloid-photo thing, Helen doesn't take well to the comment. Why didn't Donna follow up with the story of her underwear falling on the floor in front of Karen Cahill, getting mailed back to her office, and displayed in front of everyone by Josh (The Leadership Breakfast)? I think that's a very pertinent story in this situation!

- In the phone call with Josh Toby mentions the "tattoo thing" about Helen. I guess we do see a bit of her back tattoo in the photo of her thong underwear, but everyone else seems concerned with the underwear and not the tattoo.

- As far as that goes, you have to freeze-frame to see this kind of stuff, but the tabloid with the photo is the (fictional) Houston Report, with exciting captions on the front page like, "We'll take you 'behind' the scenes with Helen! An exclusive interview with the lady in red, Page 20." Page 20? Not such a great story after all, huh? Also note the blurb "Color Photos Inside!" Umm, these are color photos on the front page, what, is color some new printing technology or something?

- Why'd They Come Up With Running Mates?

The main storylines deal with Leo and the stressful vice presidential debate, along with Matt and the stresses his family is enduring at home with his presidential run. So ... running mates, coping with issues both at the top and the bottom of the ticket.

Quotes    

Josh (talking about Lou): "Does she look happy, worried?"

Ronna: "Uh, stricken might be the word."

Josh: "Hyperbole, right? Your well-known predilection for panic and exaggeration."

Ronna: "I don't have a predilection for panic and exaggeration."

Josh: "For the purposes of this moment, let's stipulate that you do."

-----

Will: "It makes you feel powerful. 'I am woman, hear me withhold.'"

Kate: "It's not like that."

Will: "A little."

Kate: "At moments."

Will: "This moment?"

Kate: "A bit."

Will: "It's disturbingly compelling."

Kate: "What's that say about you?'

Will: "Nothing good."

----- 

Donna: "It's trash journalism - the lowest kind of tabloid stuff. This will backfire."

Helen: "They'll only sell out every copy."

Donna: "I'm so sorry, Mrs. Santos. I can understand how you must feel."

Helen: "Can you? What kind of underwear are you wearing right now, Donna?"

-----

Leo (telling Annabeth about leaking his debate prep): "I had a couple think it was you."

Annabeth: "Wasn't the voice a big tip-off?"

Leo: "There's not enough helium in the cosmos. So, I borrowed your email account."

Annabeth: "Excuse me!"

Leo: "Never use your cat's name as your password."

  

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

• It's been a few episodes since we've have a chance to see the Vinick campaign staff, so it's good to see Sheila (Patricia Richardson) and Bob (Stephen Root) again.

• Steve is seen in the White House press room.

• Matt's brother Jorge appears, played by David Barrera (Generation Kill, NYPD Blue, Castle). While we won't actually see him again, Jorge certainly proves to be a complication for the Santos campaign.

• There's a quick glimpse of media talking head Mike Diacovo (David Garrison) in the background. He's been a thorn in the side of the Santos campaign since The Ticket.

• The situation in Kazakhstan serves as a background for Will and Kate's flirtation. We first heard of possible trouble in Kazakhstan in Mr. Frost; since then the president has been assassinated, the pro-Russian new leader has canceled an oil deal with China, delayed elections, and forcibly put down protests by ethnic Chinese, and both Russian and Chinese military units are threatening to cross the border and ignite a conflict between world powers.

•  Leo brings up his divorce when he's giving Matt marital advice. We saw Leo's wife leave in Five Votes Down, and the divorce papers coming through in The Portland Trip. Leo does recognize the irony of giving advice to Matt, considering Leo told his wife his job was more important than his marriage before she walked out.

• The topic of the United States refusing to accede to the authority of the International Criminal Court comes up in debate prep and during the actual debate. We saw a discussion on that (and Leo's opinion) as a major plot point in War Crimes.
  

• There's a quick mention of Illinois and what the Vinick campaign should do there in a discussion between the staff and Ray Sullivan. We discovered the Santos campaign was starting to challenge Vinick in Illinois in The Wedding. 
  

• Toby tells Josh he talks to him "once every six weeks." We saw Josh stop over at Toby's apartment (twice) in Undecideds, which was a weekend after the debate in early September, so probably September 16-17 ... only two weeks before the events of this episode. (This episode aired five weeks after that one, so there's that, but that's not how much time has passed in-universe.)

• Leo's sandbagging to fool the Sullivan campaign (and his own staff) about his debate performance reminds us a little bit of the opening of Game On. That's where President Bartlet completely fumbled a question Toby gave him about the death penalty, practically giving Toby a heart attack about how badly Bartlet might perform - but that was all a prank played on Toby by President Bartlet and the rest of the staff.
  

• Donna's connection with Helen and her request to let her help decide what kind of First Lady she wants to be is going to pay off later in the season.
  

DC location shots    

• None in DC, although we can see the Santos residence (supposedly in Houston) is actually on the corner of Rancho Road and Hacienda Drive in Arcadia, California. The house used for the yard/exterior shots is 250 Hacienda Drive (the house has a walkway to the front door/frontage on Hacienda, with the driveway and another walkway off Rancho Road).

From the episode, shot from the front yard

A view of the front door/yard, from the episode

Google Street View, looking back at where the motorcade was coming down Hacienda

Google Street View of the front door/yard of 250 Hacienda

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

• Josh mentions Torquemada, the Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition, when he threatens the rest of the staff not to breath a word about Leo's poor debate prep.
  

• Botox comes up in Annabeth's talk with Leo about his appearance at the debate ("It's a hair and makeup room, it's not a time machine").

• We can see Leo using a Dell laptop to look at the blog post covering the leak about his woeful debate preparation.

• Matt uses the phrase, "Less filling, tastes great." The reverse of that ("Tastes great, less filling") was a famous phrase from an ad campaign for Miller Lite beer that began in 1973. Miller has revived that phrase a few times since, including with an ad campaign running right now in 2024.
  

• There's a quick glimpse of CNN/Headline News anchor Chuck Roberts on a TV in the Santos home.

• The Washington Post is mentioned by Josh when he's trying to find out if any of the staffers leaked word of Leo's debate prep performance.
  

• Camelot and Kennedy come up when Josh visits Leo, as a callback to the youthful optimism of the John F. Kennedy administration (sometimes compared to the musical Camelot).
  

• It appears Matt and Helen's son is playing video games on an original Xbox. The first-generation Xboxes had ended production in late 2005, with the Xbox 360 coming on the market in November. Remember, even though this episode is set in September 2006, it totally makes sense for an Xbox to be in the Santos home. Heck, I'm still nursing along an original Xbox just to play MVP Baseball 2005 and NCAA Football 07, and that console is about 20 years old now.
  

• We see MSNBC coverage of the debate.

• In the debate Leo mentions the Kyoto Treaty, a multinational agreement to address climate change by reducing greenhouse gases. The real-life treaty was signed in 1997 (which would have been before the 1998 election campaign that saw Bartlet elected) and went into effect in February 2005 (about a year before this episode aired, and over a year and half before the events of this episode were set).
   

End credits freeze frame: Leo listening to Annabeth's advice on smirking.

Previous episode: The Wedding

Next episode: Internal Displacement

The Wedding - TWW S7E9

Original airdate: December 11, 2005

Written by: Josh Singer (5)

Directed by: Max Mayer (1)

Synopsis

• The White House wedding of Ellie and Vic gets complicated by a military crisis in Kazakhstan. Issues with the direction and funding of the Santos campaign cause some Democratic bigwigs to consider replacing Josh.
  

"Leo? Should Josh be running this campaign?" 

Yes, the episode is called The Wedding, and yes, Ellie Bartlet and Vic Faison tie the knot here (eventually, given President Bartlet's distractions with world events) - but the real meat of this episode rests with Josh, his obsession over how to best shift his limited resources around, the second-guessing by party bigwigs over Josh's decisions and performance, and the move to push him out and shake up the staff of Matt's campaign. And I gotta tell you, that's really timely considering the current real-world 2024 situation with President Biden's woeful debate performance causing panic and discussions in the Democratic Party about how to proceed, whether replacing Biden with a different candidate might be wise, and who that might be and how to go about it. (And now as I'm working on this post, we add the unprecedented move of Biden dropping out as a candidate and handing the reins to his VP).

 

We're six weeks out from election day, and Josh is frantically moving the campaign's limited advertising money around, pulling out of some states entirely and focusing on others where it seems they have a chance to make up some ground. The Santos campaign continues to trail Vinick by that stubborn seven-point margin, and the electoral vote map is very challenging for the Democrat contender. Then, stunning news: a new poll in Illinois shows Santos closing the gap, giving him a chance at stealing those 21 electoral votes away from Vinick.

The problem is Josh had decided earlier not to spend any precious ad dollars in Illinois, as Vinick had a double-digit lead there. Now that Santos appears to be in striking distance, not only are they at the disadvantage of working from behind, there just aren't any available dollars to move there without risking other vital states. As Josh obsesses over the right move to make, the knives come out in Democratic Party circles ... did he make the wrong move by not contesting Illinois earlier? Is there a better choice to run the Santos campaign?

What this really shows is the neverending pressure and stress of running a modern-day political campaign, and for Josh, it seems almost crippling. We've seen Josh's obsessive and unhealthy work ethic before (King Corn, Freedonia), and believe me, we're going to see it again. Leo makes the point to him; he has to slow down or things are just going to get worse.

Leo: "Did you get some sleep?"

Josh: "We cut New Hampshire, pull money out of Iowa and Wisconsin."

Leo: "Really, you've got to pace yourself."

Josh: "I mean, New Hampshire's a no-brainer."

Leo: "I'm serious. You should be getting at least five hours."

Josh: "Only four electoral votes, we're paying a premium because the ad buy is out of Boston."

Leo: "Soon you're going to be at two hours a night and it only gets worse if we win."

Not only is Josh running on fumes, second-guessing himself (to the eternal frustration of Lou), he's also paranoid. He sees party higher-ups out for his job around every corner, from MSNBC mouthpiece Mike Diacovo to former DNC chair Barry Goodwin to Senator George Montgomery, who's very critical of Josh's inattention to Illinois earlier. Couple that with all the party leaders upset with his plans to pull money out of various states, and it's a no-win situation.

 

And then, it turns out Josh's paranoia is fully justified. Goodwin and Montgomery meet with Matt and Leo before the White House wedding, and they are firm in their belief that Josh has to be replaced ... and replaced with Leo (who, to be honest, has already run a successful underdog Presidential campaign). Their case is strong enough that Matt wants to make the switch. Heck, even Josh seems okay with the idea ("They want you. It's you, isn't it? Hell, that's who I'd want. You would've known. You would have been in Illinois months ago, right?").

(Okay, this bothers me a lot. Matt only got into the presidential race because of Josh. He famously told Josh in Faith Based Initiative that he'd only run if his "nine-point plan" added a tenth: having Josh in charge. Matt has been all-in with Josh ever since - even when Josh offered to move aside when Matt's political instincts proved better than Josh's in some cases, even when Matt's wife Helen had issues with Josh, Matt never wavered in his belief that Josh was the right and only guy for the job. It's just not believable that he'd change his mind with six weeks left.)

But Leo sets him straight.

Matt: "You taking over?"

Leo: "No."

Matt: "Leo, I thought we --"

Leo: "Josh is going to make a lot of strategic decisions over the next few weeks. He's going to sweat them like life and death. And they'll be important, sure, which is why you and me are going to be in on every one of them. But they're meaningless compared to the decision the voters are going to have to make just by listening to you and trying to see if they can connect with the idea of Matt Santos as President. And Josh has nothing to do with that. Goodwin's right - Josh has taken you as far as he can. The rest is up to you."

So the team remains intact. Six weeks left, still flailing away at that stubborn Vinick lead, but maybe finding some traction here and there.

Then there's the wedding. We see right from the start that Abbey isn't all that confident in Jed being able to structure his time in running the free world to get a few hours away to walk his daughter down the aisle, let alone host the rehearsal dinner or practice his wedding dance. And she's probably right ... note Debbie's eyes when he starts asking for foreign leaders to get on the phone before the rehearsal dinner.

 He's doing his best, but global politics keep getting in the way. We've had the situation in Kazakhstan ever since Message Of The Week - the Russian-backed President who replaced the assassinated leader has killed an oil deal with the Chinese, delayed elections and started causing problems with the ethnic Chinese in the country. Both Russia and China have been rattling their sabers at each other over the situation, and in the previous episode troops from both countries have moved into position along the border. As tensions remain high, President Bartlet is able to squeeze out a little time to deal with wedding issues (including a talk with the groom, something Abbey isn't on board with):

Abbey: "So, rumor has it you're going to have a chat with the groom tomorrow morning."

Jed: "I am."

Abbey: "Well, that will be lovely, I'm sure."

Jed: "What, I did it with Doug."

Abbey: "Yeah, I don't recall that as being an unqualified success."

Jed: "Well, now I've had a run at it."

 

When time for the talk arrives and Vic is ushered into the Oval Office, he's greeted by a bevy of high-ranking military generals (intimidating from your future father-in-law, right?):

Vic and the President have an uneasy little discussion about tenure and other off-topic issues, and finally, as they're ending the conversation, Bartlet gets to the point that has been really bothering him:

President: "Ah, hell. Just tell me you decided to marry her before you got her pregnant."

Vic has the right answer.

Vic: "Eleven months, two weeks, and three days."

President: "Excuse me?"

Vic: "That's when I decided to marry her. A year ago, on our third date."

President: "What was the matter with the first two?"

(They shake hands.)

President: "I'll see you at the end of the aisle."  

So we're all ready for a grand White House wedding, right? Ha! Naturally, shortly before the ceremony, the powderkeg in Kazakhstan ignites. Taramov's government cracks down on protests by the ethnic Chinese, killing and injuring scores; the Russian troops move across the border, with the Chinese countering on their side. President Bartlet is stuck on the phone with China's President Lian, trying to slow down the eventual sparking of a military conflict in Central Asia, to no effect - until he plays the only card he's got at the time being.

President (on the phone, through his interpreter): "Damn it, Lian, will you shut up already!"

(The call goes quiet)

President: "Is your daughter married?"

Lian (through the interpreter): "Excuse me, Mr. President?"

President: "Your daughter, the one I met when we were in Beijing, is she married?"

Lian: "Yes. She was married two years ago, last spring."

President: "Then you will understand me when I tell you that my daughter's wedding is this afternoon and that she has been waiting 46 minutes for me to give her away, because I can't put down this damn phone until you tell me that you're not going to start World War III today! Now, for the love of God, Lian, will you give me just one half hour so I can go and walk my little girl down the aisle?"

(Pause)

Lian: "Mr. President, we can continue this discussion in one hour."

The crisis is put on hold, the President can go walk Ellie down the aisle, the wedding can go on. It's all kind of wrapped up with this story about Ellie as a child running out into no-man's-land at the Berlin Wall, causing the soldiers to wave at each other, as a tie-in to Ellie's wedding holding off trouble at another international hotspot, but that all sounds made up and silly, frankly. I'm not sure what Josh Singer was thinking about with that (dealing with international crises is easy! Just throw Ellie into the middle of them! I dunno) ...

But again, the real story here is Josh, burning out and unable to focus, trying to do the impossible by paying for ads with money the campaign doesn't have, and facing down the disapproval of the Democratic Party leadership because he couldn't predict the future ... and how even when Matt's faith in him wavered, Leo remained committed and steadfast. Josh is the guy.

Now we see where the final six weeks takes us.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- We get multiple references to it being six weeks before the election, which would make it around the last week of September, 2006. We also know it's a weekend (from Will's comment to Kate about how he spends his weekends), so it's probably Saturday, September 23 (or possibly September 30, but that's barely five weeks until Election Day).

 

- We first heard of Ellie and Vic's engagement (and Ellie's pregnancy) in Here Today, which was mid- to late-August (probably around August 20 or so). The actual wedding, planned and conducted inside the White House, is happening barely a month later. Insanely fast timing, considering all the protocol and preparations that had to be done in those five-ish weeks. On the other hand, they didn't need to go with an empire waist on the wedding dress, like CJ mentioned in Undecideds.

- We also hear Josh asking the Illinois party guy if they can get the full campaign office up and running "by November 8." While November 8 was a Tuesday in 2005 (the year this episode aired), Election Day was November 7 in 2006 (the year this episode is set in). So Josh's question is asking if they can get the campaign office running by the day after the election.

- Let's look at Josh's electoral map. Through freeze-framing and examination of the map, we can see it shows Vinick currently holding 23 states with 221 electoral votes; Santos holding 12 states and DC with 112 electoral votes; and 12 states "in play" with 204 electoral votes.

 

Josh also makes the point that the campaign needs to sweep all four of Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Florida. While those four states wouldn't give the victory to Santos (adding those four would make 214 electoral votes, meaning they'd still have to find 56 more somewhere to get to 270), Vinick taking any one of those four would get his campaign within 30 electoral votes of the presidency.

This electoral math also highlights the unexpected boost of Illinois coming into play. Add Illinois to the Santos map, in addition to Josh's four "must win" states, and suddenly that's 235 votes for the Democrat, with Vinick losing Illinois and dropping to 200 even. So that would be a huge, huge deal - and the party angst about Josh ceding Illinois to Vinick and not even contesting it becomes understandable.

(I had a whole, in-depth, detailed look at the states and their positioning in Josh's plans all written up, until Blogger ate my entire post on the Fourth of July, so ... you get Hoynes!)

- Why'd They Come Up With The Wedding?

The episode centers around the wedding of Ellie and Vic, duh.

Quotes    

Debbie (as the President heads into the Oval Office to be briefed by Kate on the situation in Kazakhstan): "I told them you were busy."

President: "Yeah."

Debbie: "I hear there's a rehearsal dinner tonight. Swanky event, President of the United States is supposed to show. He's got 15 minutes."

-----

Josh (talking to Edie about the Illinois Democratic guy): "Get him on the phone. See if we can fit him in for breakfast tomorrow."

Edie: "Okay, you do realize you have a breakfast every half hour between 8:00 and 1:00?"

Josh: "The later ones must be lunches."

-----

Diacovo (on the TV): "Of course, this campaign is still salvageable, but he certainly can't afford to make another Illinois-sized mistake, which is why I think some people have begun to question whether Josh Lyman is the right person to take the Santos campaign down the stretch."

-----

Abbey (at the ambassadorial gift exchange): "How many of these do we have?"

Carol: "There were a couple of additions: the Greek ambassador, the Latvians, the Romanian ambassador happens to be in town. All told, that brings us to 71."

Abbey (firmly): "The hairdresser comes at 10:00."

Carol: "Maybe we ought to skip Romania."

Abbey: "Or all of eastern Europe."

-----

Debbie (as Vic is waiting nervously outside the Oval Office): "Can I get you anything?"

Vic: "No, thank you."

Debbie: "Water?"

Vic: "No."

Debbie: "Coffee?"

Vic: "No."

Debbie: "Valium?"

-----

Kate (regarding Will, thinking): "Do you own a tux?"

Will: "Excuse me?"

Kate: "I mean, I was just going to go stag, but ... if you're not busy later ... don't have anything ... to do ..."

-----

CJ (to Kate, as they meet on the way to the Situation Room): "You look nice."

Kate: "Nothing says 'international crisis' like a pair of black stilettos."

CJ: "Do you know what's going on?"

Kate: "Just got paged."

CJ: "You really look nice."

Kate: "Okay. Now I'm starting to think you're hitting on me."

-----

Jed: "Have I mentioned this mother-of-the-bride thing agrees with you?"

Abbey: "When Liz got married, you said I didn't look old enough to be the mother of the bride."

Jed: "You didn't."

Abbey: "I do now?"

Jed: "I didn't say that."

Abbey: "What did you say?"

Jed: "Is there any way out of this for me?"

Abbey: "Probably not."

-----

Senator Montgomery: "Josh Lyman's done a terrific job, but Congressman, I'm not sure he can see you through to the finish line."

Matt: "Who can?"

Goodwin: "Only one guy I'd want running a campaign this tough and that's the guy standing next to you." (indicates Leo; Leo laughs it off, then realizes he's serious)

 

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

• The White House reporter Charlayne (Joyce Guy) is seen again. She first appeared in Constituency Of One.

• MSNBC talking head Mike Diacovo (David Garrison, Married ... With Children) is seen once again; even in-person and not just on a TV screen this time. He was first seen in The Ticket.

• Secretary of Defense Hutchinson is back.
  

• Senator Montgomery is played by Robert Foxworth (Falcon Crest, Syriana). We're not told precisely what state Montgomery represents, but he does push back on Josh pulling ad money out of Iowa ("As goes Iowa, so goes the Midwest").

• The crisis in Kazakhstan has been slowly building ever since Vinick's national security briefer Charles Frost told him, "There's a situation in Kazakhstan" back in Message Of The Week.
  

• We hear President Bartlet mention Russian President Chigorin. Chigorin was first heard of as the newly elected Russian president in Enemies Foreign And Domestic, and has been in that post ever since. Later in the episode President Bartlet is talking to Chinese President Lian on the phone; we saw Lian when the presidents met at the Beijing summit in Impact Winter.
  

• Donna tells the press Governor Baker will appear with Matt at a rally. Gov. Baker was first mentioned as a frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in The Hubbert Peak, announced he was withdrawing his name from consideration for family reasons in In The Room, jumped back in during the Democratic convention in 2162 Votes and then saw his hopes crash when news of his wife's treatment for depression became public.
  

• The stubborn lead Vinick holds over Santos continues to be a point. Matt and his advisers were excited to come out of the convention only nine points down (The Ticket), but except for a bump that brought them within five points after Matt's Marine Reserve training (The Mommy Problem) - a bump that was quickly erased in Message Of The Week - Santos has not been able to get closer than seven points (which we hear in this episode). Also, Charlayne's question about it being a month since they were within five points matches up pretty well with the events of Message Of The Week (this is late September, that episode occurred in late August).
  

• We see the famous Bartlet jacket flip. Martin Sheen's left shoulder was injured at birth, which made it difficult for him to lift that arm above the shoulder.

• We have a couple of mentions of Berryhill and his deputy (with the wedding seating chart). Berryhill was first mentioned in A Proportional Response, was named as a "Secretary" in Debate Camp and was finally seen as the Secretary of State (and Bartlet's choice for his new Vice President) in The Dogs Of War.
  

• When news of the Illinois poll comes in, Josh says, "We should have Joey rerun this in the morning." He's talking about Joey Lucas, political pollster extraordinaire, who's been a fixture with polling in the series ever since 20 Hours In L.A. (she actually first was seen in Take This Sabbath Day, but she was a campaign manager in that episode, not a pollster).
  

• Doug, President Bartlet's son-in-law and husband of daughter Elizabeth, is mentioned when Abbey and Jed are discussing his plans to talk to Ellie's groom-to-be Vic.
  

• The growing attraction between Will and Kate continues, as she asks him to be his "plus one" at the wedding. They first regarded each other with some looks of possible romantic interest in Drought Conditions; in Undecideds we saw Kate distracted by watching Will's backside leaving the room.
  

• Will tells Kate he wasn't invited to the wedding, and he attributes that to "my encounter with the happy couple" (when CJ made him help with the planning while she was tied up with bigger matters in Undecideds). Which leads to Ellie's irritated line to Abbey, "Why is Will Bailey wearing a tux?"

• SPOILER AHEAD: The exchange between Leo and the President ("You know, if you win this damn thing, you're stuck working here another four years." "I like to think of the Vice Presidency as more of an emeritus position.") has some real sadness in light of what happens in only a few short weeks, both in the show universe and in reality. Not to mention Leo's reply to Josh when he's asking for Leo to take over the campaign ("You're all trying to kill me").
  

• We have mentions of Senators Triplehorn and Stackhouse among the political figures calling to criticize Josh. Senator Triplehorn was seen as the Senate Minority Leader (and possible presidential contender) in Swiss Diplomacy, and appeared again as part of the Democratic group that helped torpedo Berryhill's VP chances in Jefferson Lives. Senator Stackhouse (while mentioned way back in Season 1) first appeared in The Stackhouse Filibuster, and was also seen as a possible primary challenger to President Bartlet in The Red Mass.
  

• When President Bartlet tells Chinese President Lian about "the daughter I met when we were in Beijing" is a callback to President Bartlet's trip to China in Impact Winter, a trip marred by his MS attack.
  

DC location shots    

• None.

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

• At the wedding rehearsal Abbey tells CJ Jed was "about to go into his Spencer Tracy routine." This refers not only to the actor Spencer Tracy but also his famous role in the 1950 movie Father Of The Bride. This shot of Jed leading his daughter down the stairs is also reminiscent of a scene from the film (except for the Marines, of course).
  

• There is indeed a Westin in Philadelphia.

• The Zogby poll is mentioned. That poll was huge in presidential political circles in the late 1990s and early 2000s; while it's still around, it's much less of a player in the polling world these days.
  

• Media outlets named and/or seen include the Trib (Chicago Tribune), MSNBC, C-SPAN, the Washington Post, AP, Reuters, the (New York) Times, Le Monde, and the Philadelphia Inquirer.

• Josh tells Donna to make sure Matt gets Cheez-Whiz on his cheesesteak ... which he does, resulting in this:

• Will is seen talking about the music at Ellie's wedding (Sorge Nel Petto from Handel's Rinaldo). He also describes Ellie's wedding dress choice, a Peau de Soie from designer Monique Lhuillier instead of the lace Vera Wang. [Interestingly, the music we actually hear as Jed and Ellie walk down the aisle is indeed a Handel piece, but it's a Concerto Grosso from Feuerwerksmusik (Music for the Royal Fireworks).]
  

• The reference to the Russians and Chinese having a "little Sharks and Jets routine in Central Asia" is to the warring gangs in the musical and movie West Side Story.
  

• Leo mentions Eisenhower and the Democrats running behind him in Illinois, which means Leo was aware of the polling during the presidential campaigns of 1952 and 1956. We don't know exactly how old Leo is, but John Spencer was 58 years old in 2005 - he was only 5 during the 1952 campaign and 9 in 1956, so not exactly involved in politics at that time.
  

End credits freeze frame: President Bartlet and Ellie preparing to walk down the aisle.

Previous episode: Undecideds

Next episode: Running Mates

 

Arrgh, blast it, God bless, you know ..

God bless America, on this July 4th ... (and I'm using it both as a timely patriotic statement and as an oath about Blogger eating all my work, dammit).

I spent a good amount of time yesterday working on my next post, for the episode The Wedding. As it turns out, it's very fitting considering current events in the Democratic Party (the bigwigs like Senator Montgomery and Barry Goodwin wanting to force Josh out of running the Santos campaign has some eerie similarities to the current pundit talk about Joe Biden stepping back from his run for re-election).

But anyway ... I had a lot of work put into that yesterday, several hours worth. I jump back on today to do a little more, and the page doesn't want to load, and then I get it opened again, and ...

It's blank. All that work, just gone.

I've already gotten behind the eight-ball with this (there's been quite a bit of stuff going on, from being in a three-week run of Julius Caesar to traveling to grandkid time to getting some preparations done for a family wedding of our own in October to my wife's recent retirement meaning she's suddenly taking up my computer time), but this didn't help. At all.

No idea when I'll get caught back up and finish this post (or re-finish, as it turns out). Have patience!