365 Days - TWW S6E12

 

Original airdate: January 19, 2005

Written by: Mark Goffman (6)

Directed by: Andrew Bernstein (1)

Synopsis

• Leo returns to the White House staff, and makes his own role by urging the President and his staff to keep fighting for progress in the administration's final year. A crisis in Bolivia causes international tension, Charlie tries to save the Earned Income Tax Credit, and Abbey goes to a NASCAR race.
  

"Are we done, Mr. McGarry?"

"No. Not yet."

This episode is a direct descendant of Let Bartlet Be Bartlet, and all the other "reset" episodes we've seen over the years where the West Wing staffers are chided for drifting into complacency, for getting away from the true goals of the Bartlet presidency, for settling for what's comfortable instead of what's right. But this time, it really works.

 

As I've mentioned in talking about those other "reset" episodes, most of the time the idea of "resetting" is forced into the narrative by the writers, where we're told the administration is weak, drifting and directionless - even though events in episodes right before those show us some pretty good successes and political wins for the administration. Not in this case. Leo is right ... CJ, Toby, even the President himself have been coasting, fearful to make too many waves, scared to put up a fight with a Republican Congress. All they've been doing (particularly since the President's MS relapse on the trip to China) has been keeping the Oval Office warm for the next guy, and it's been getting worse and worse ever since Jefferson Lives and the administration's caving to Speaker Haffley and the Republicans over naming the new Vice President. Yes, there have been a few wins since then (the budget standoff in Shutdown, getting a liberal Chief Justice named in The Supremes), but by and large the administration hasn't been acting like itself since Zoey's kidnapping in 2003. Add to that health problems for the President and Leo, staff shakeups, and Josh leaving the White House to run the Santos campaign, and those remaining in the West Wing are overdue for a scolding.

And Leo's gonna give it to them. It's the day after a successful State of the Union, and he returns to the White House without a title (Senior Adviser to the President, I'd imagine) and an undefined role. His first day back he's greeted by all our familiar staff members, even Ed and Larry.

 

 

But as he starts to make a few remarks about where he thinks he might fit in, beepers go off, people are called away, and one-by-one or two-by-two they depart, consumed with the crisis-of-the-day that prevents them from planning long term. As he's left there in the empty office, Leo draws a number on his whiteboard.

 

 

Leo sits down in CJ's old office and starts watching old Bartlet speeches, inaugural addresses and States of the Union. This befuddles the others - this is what his new role will be, sitting in front of a TV watching old VHS tapes? Will's skeptical look as he departs after setting up a meeting with Leo illustrates everyone's thoughts.

Of course, Leo is far savvier than that. He recognizes the fact that there's one year left of the Bartlet administration, one year left where they can still use their positions to get something done, and it's worthwhile to look back and see the ideas and policies that were announced in the past that haven't yet been addressed.

Before we get to Leo's takedowns of Toby and the President, takedowns that turn the tide and spur the "reset" we get at the end of the episode, let me just mention the brilliance of Leo (and John Spencer) in his meetings throughout the day. When Kate comes in to discuss a crisis in Bolivia, Leo almost says nothing at all. He just lets Kate talk, answering her own questions as she thinks out loud, and coming to her own conclusions. It's fantastic. When Will stops by to talk about the Vice President, Leo says a bit more ... but he mainly replies to Will's questions with another question, forcing Will to find his own answers in a similarly Socratic way.

This also brings us to finding out a little more about Will's relationship with Russell. He ditched the position of Toby's deputy in order to be chief strategist for Russell, buying in to the Vice President's offer to remake his image and take charge of the man who likely will be the next Democratic nominee - even after roasting Russell mercilessly in the draft of the President's speech introducing Russell in Han. Yet here he begs Leo to tell him what he and the President saw when they picked Russell as the new VP.

Will: "The truth is, and I'm not sure I even realized this before now, I've spent the last year and a half looking for what you saw in him. You and the President. You gave him this job. You picked Russell, him, to serve as VP to a President with a serious health condition. You were aware you were picking a potential successor. At some level I just trusted that, and assumed I'd eventually discover what you knew then."

This makes me scratch my head ... was Will not aware of what went down in Jefferson Lives? Did he not know the White House was basically blackmailed into choosing from a list of poor options? Surely he knew, everybody in the West Wing knew. Is he asking this question as to why Leo and the President picked Russell as the least-worst option? Really, this monologue doesn't fit into what we (and the characters!) know from Season 5.

Eventually, Leo's meetings turn to his true targets. First, Toby ... the architect of the previous night's State of the Union, hailed by the press but, to Leo, missing in serious substance:

 (Leo reads a passage calling for a comprehensive new approach to the war on drugs)

Leo: "That was in your rough draft of last night's speech."

Toby: "We cut it."

Leo: "Who told you to?"

Toby: "Nobody, nobody had to, you've had a heart attack and he can't stand up! Day after every other State of the Union the President launches a month-long road show to stump for what was in it! This year I get Bingo Bob, and a week."

Leo calls Toby to task for pulling his punches, for being too afraid to call for progress and forge ahead with policies - and Toby reacts with anger. He knows Leo is right, but he's frustrated by the realities of what he sees from the Oval Office.

And then dinner with the President. It all starts when Bartlet avoids a question by asking his old friend, "You have a chance to figure out what you'd like to do around here?" and Leo answers, "Have you?" That sparks some fire in Jed, but Leo is there for a reason.

Leo: "What happened to the drug treatment policy last night?"

President: "We had to narrow our focus --"

Leo: "Now's the time to widen, not narrow focus. What are you saving your political capital for?"

President: "I have a responsibility to the party!"

Leo: "You have a responsibility to the country, sir. The American people sent you here for two terms. Eight years. So the last one's gonna be harder. I've never known you to shy away from a fight."

President: "And I've never had to make a speech based on the maximum amount of time I could stand up."

As happens with pretty much every conversation Leo has with Jed, the President eventually comes around to Leo's point of view. It can't be about an opposition Congress, it can't be about a physically weakened President, it can't be about just keeping the seat warm - Leo knows the administration needs to get back to its roots, it has to start caring about what it can do to help Americans, and it needs to make the argument regardless of who's trying to stand in their way.

Let me take a moment to address the subplots. They hardly matter. They serve mostly as distractions for the staff to take them away from the greater long-term arc of the administration's final year ... the crisis in Bolivia, where protests over a comment by the US ambassador eventually lead to American contractors in-country to destroy coca plants being taken hostage, for example. While we get a small amount of lip-service about "the war on drugs" and America's responsibility for drug-growing in Latin America, nothing serious is actually done about it. It's mainly an excuse to show us the Sit Room and weeping wives on TV begging for their husbands to be released.

Charlie is upset about the Earned Income Tax Credit, an increase in which was one of the President's most popular lines in the State of the Union speech. Unfortunately, even Democratic congressmen are unwilling to push the Republicans and take up the President's call, offering only a token bump. Charlie and Annabeth brainstorm over replacing the boring "EITC" with a catchier name, with Charlie settling on "poor tax." While there's nothing much here, either, I do like to see Charlie working on improving programs for the poor and less fortunate, considering his background.

And Annabeth is just knocking it out of the park in this episode. Tart and sassy on the phone ("Here's the message, eat less bread" then slamming down the phone) and jabbing Toby with everything she's got, from this exchange over Abbey's trip to a NASCAR race:

Toby: "First Lady's going to be attending a stock car race."

Annabeth (giving a thumbs up): "Hell, yeah."

Toby: "Excuse me?"

Annabeth: "Colorful regional colloquialism betokening enthusiasm of a visceral, if not rowdy, variety. You're making this too complicated."

Toby: "I want you to prep her."

Annabeth: "It's a bunch of cars going real fast around an oval. There. I'm done."

To her verbal smackdown of Toby for dissing Middle America:

Toby: "Just make sure we avoid a flyover values disaster."

Annabeth: "Sorry?"

Toby: "People in the middle of the country who you fly over when you're trying to get to --"

Annabeth: "Real cities?  Can't imagine why you're worried about offending them."

The look on Toby's face after that ...

And Annabeth's appeal to Abbey's more - visual interests, shall we say? - in her prep work for the NASCAR race (complete with pictures!):

Annabeth: "Women make up 45 percent of the audience for NASCAR events, more than any other major league sport."

Abbey (disinterested): "Oh, I wonder why."

Annabeth: "Well, everyone has their theories but I'm going to tell you plain: it's the drivers."

Abbey: "Hmm."

Annabeth: "They're a bunch of studs."

Abbey: "Hm-mmm."

Annabeth: "Well-built hotties running around in tight-fitting fire suits."

Abbey: "Hotties."

Annabeth: "Hotsy-tot hottentot hotties ... ma'am." 

Kristin Chenoweth is just on fire this episode. 

But neither Bolivia, nor a hole in the fence between North and South Korea, nor the Secretary of Labor threatening to quit with poor employment numbers, nor flooding in Hawaii, nor Mount Rushmore sliding an inch, nor Abbey getting kissed by NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray, none of those things really have an impact on this episode. What they all do, though, is distract the administration from keeping an eye on the big picture. Leo convinces Jed of that, and the President calls everyone in at almost 10 pm to sit down with Leo, without distractions, without being called out of the room, and let Leo make his point to everyone.

Leo: "We have the ability to effect more change in a day at the White House than we'll have in a lifetime once we walk out these doors. What do you want to do with them?"

One day has already been lost from the final year. 

What can be done with the remaining 364? 

And as ideas start coming, from the President and staffers alike, as Leo starts adding to his whiteboard, we have our "reset" and we have some concrete goals and aspirations to work on before the Bartlet administration winds down.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- As Opposition Research was the first pure Santos campaign episode, occurring completely separate from the Bartlet White House, this episode sets us onto the alternating path of campaign/administration episodes that the series will use for a bit. Hence, no appearance by Josh or Donna (as they continue to be with the Santos and Russell campaigns, respectively). Will, though, somehow is still around.

 

- We can nail down the exact day of this episode, thanks to Leo and his counting down the remaining days of the Bartlet presidency. With inauguration day being January 20, 2007, that would make this day January 20, 2006 - 365 days remaining. That would mean the State of the Union was on January 19, which in 2006 was a Sunday, so that actually couldn't have happened (SOTUs are typically on Tuesdays, but never on a weekend). It's interesting to note this episode originally aired on January 19, almost the exact date of when it was set (although not the same year, as The West Wing has actually moved a year into the future by now).

- The people greeting Leo as he arrives in CJ's old office are CJ, Charlie, Toby, Annabeth, Kate, Ed, Larry, Will (for some reason; why is he hanging around the White House?), and an unnamed female listed in the cast as "Leo's Intern" (Alexa Alemanni).

- Here's something different - President Bartlet almost always puts on his jackets with a "flip" move, tossing them over his head while he gets his arms in the sleeves. That comes from an injury Martin Sheen suffered at birth, an injury that keeps him from lifting his left arm above the shoulder. Right here, though, we see him shrugging on his jacket in a normal fashion.

- Remember, it's definitely January here, with the State of the Union the night before and exactly a year until the 2007 inauguration. On this TV news screen, it's showing the weather in Iowa City, Iowa, as rainy with a high of 72 degrees. The record high temperature for Iowa City on January 20 is only 55 degrees, set in 1901. The record high temperature for the entire month of January is 68 degrees - so this would be an unprecedentedly warm January day.

- It appears that Gail's fishbowl is empty of decorations at this time.

- Why'd They Come Up With 365 Days?

Leo's appeal to the staff and the President to keep governing and keep trying to implement policy over the final year of the administration, instead of just keeping the Oval Office warm for the next guy. Leo starts a "365" day countdown on his white board.

 

Quotes    

Leo (pointing at Toby): "Ah. Man of the hour."

(general applause)

Will: "Hear, hear. Now, now, no false modesty."

Toby: "It's actually self-loathing." 

-----

CJ: "It's gonna get trumped by this Bolivia thing."

Toby: "Where are we on that?"

CJ: "Making certain our guys weren't doing what Zalaya says they were."

Toby: "Then?"

CJ: "Liar, liar, pants on fire."

Toby: "It won't rhyme in Spanish, don't want you to be disappointed."

-----

Kate: "Anni-vorce ... it's the anniversary of my divorce."

Leo: "I didn't know you'd been married."

Kate: "Couple of times."

Leo: "Hopeless romantic."

Kate: "Hopeless, anyway."

-----

Debbie: "Naps are restorative. Churchill took them."

President: "Churchill also maintained a 24-hour buzz. These days people that drink that much during the day are encouraged to attend meetings."

-----

Leo: "It was easier, for me. You as my press secretary, Sam, Josh, Toby."

CJ: "Toby?"

Leo: "Toby's always been Toby. Still took me a year to figure out what the hell I was doing, and those were the easy years."

CJ: "We had easy years?"

Leo: "Easier than this."

 

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

• Ed and Larry are here, helping to welcome back Leo. We haven't seen these guys in almost a year of real time, back in last season's Talking Points - which actually occurred before Donna's CoDel trip to the Middle East in the spring of 2004, so it's been almost two years in series time.

• Dr. Mike Gordon is back, giving the President a quick examination in the Oval Office. Played by Reed Diamond, Dr. Gordon was first seen in the bunker during the anthrax scare in No Exit, and also updated Abbey, Charlie, CJ, and Curtis about what the President's medical and recuperative needs would be in Faith Based Initiative.

• Secretary of Defense Miles Hutchinson (Steve Ryan) appears in the Situation Room. Hutchinson's name as a cabinet member has been mentioned since Season 1 (he was even one of the possible Presidential nominees brought up when Bartlet was considering not running for re-election late in Season 2), but his first appearance wasn't until Inauguration: Part I in Season 4. He was last seen in Liftoff, trying to bulldoze over CJ on her first day as Chief of Staff.

• CIA Director George Rollie (Ryan Cutrona) also shows up in the Situation Room, taking some heat from President Bartlet for the "contractors" captured in Bolivia. Rollie's chief purpose on the show seems to be as someone to mercilessly criticize, as that happens almost every time he's in an episode ever since his first appearance in Lord John Malbury. CJ and Toby refer to that in their walk-and-talk, with Toby saying, "The guy's got to quit, doesn't he?" and CJ replying, "I hope not, it's too much fun, besides it's the only person the President ever picks on, if the CIA Director goes it could be you or me, bucko."
  

• When CJ says the President might pick on her or Toby instead if the CIA Director goes, Toby responds, "It's already been me." That could mean a lot of things, as the President lashed out at Toby for pushing him to be more bold policy wise (and for bringing up his father) in The Two Bartlets, not to mention Bartlet's anger at Toby for forcing Jed to confront the hiding of his MS in 17 People.
  

• CJ tells Toby "Taylor Reid even said it was the President's finest State of the Union." Reid was first mentioned in The Warfare Of Genghis Khan as a constant critic of the administration and host of a conservative cable TV talk show, one that CJ then appeared on several times. Reid was played by Jay Mohr, but we haven't actually seen him since Full Disclosure.
  

• Toby takes digs at both Vice President Russell and Will with his remarks about "disloyalty" over Russell's plan to only give a week to pushing the Bartlet plans from the SOTU. When Will responds that Russell has been "nothing but steadfast," Toby's biting reply "I wasn't talking about him" reminds us of Will leaving his post as Toby's deputy to go work for Russell in Constituency Of One.
  

• "Sam Seaborn, everybody!" That's the shoutout we got after the SOTUs in both He Shall, From Time To Time ... and Bartlet's Third State Of The Union. While Toby and Leo kind of ignore Sam's key writing contributions in their testy exchange over SOTUs and inaugural addresses, at least Leo mentions Sam when he's recalling the "easy years" with CJ. It's the first time Sam's name has come up since we heard he called offering Josh some support in Constituency Of One.
  

• We saw someone from the Office of Administration talking to CJ about redecorating her office in The Hubbert Peak. With the series futzing around with the calendar in Season 5, we can't know exactly how long it's taken to actually get the office redone as we see occurring in this episode, what with CJ replacing Leo after the Mideast summit and his heart attack, which happened while Donna was still laid up from the bomb blast in Gaza, which was set near Memorial Day of 2004; but yet the 2004 midterms had apparently come and gone by the time CJ was named CoS, too, so ... time is a flat circle.
  

• In Leo's conversation with the President he talks about the blue-ribbon commission on entitlements (four years ago, or 2002). We saw the entitlements commission being put together in Ellie, with Toby's sneaky plan to announce Sen. Seth Gillette as a member before asking him - in the early spring of 2001, or five years ago.
  

• WHAT'S NEXT - we haven't had any "What's next?" moments for a while, but here are two. After getting his initial briefing over the protests in Bolivia when Kate urges him to make his statement clear to the Latin press, President Bartlet responds, "The Latin press'll just have to figure it out. What's next?"

Later on, CJ uses the phrase, "Margaret, what's next?" after Leo leaves her office to have dinner with the President.

 

DC location shots    

• None. There's a nice establishing shot of the White House, but no scenes on location.

 

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

• NASCAR races at Martinsville, Virginia and Daytona, Florida get a mention.
  

• Thomas Paine and Nathan Hale both get quoted.
  

• Toby brings up Allende and Che Guevara in reference to America's history of meddling in Latin America.
  

• Toby urging Annabeth to prep Abbey on her trip to the NASCAR race has him evoking the image of Eliza Doolittle tutoring Henry Higgins (which is, of course, the exact opposite of what happens in My Fair Lady or its origin story, Pygmalion).
  

• Annabeth has pictures of actual NASCAR drivers to impress Abbey. I'm pretty sure the first one is Casey Mears, the second is Jeff Gordon and the third Jamie McMurray.

Casey Mears, I'm almost certain

 

Jeff Gordon

Jamie McMurray

• Jamie McMurray actually appears onscreen as the winner of the race in news coverage seen on the episode, and gives Abbey a peck on the cheek to boot.

• Debbie uses Churchill as an example of why naps are good and restorative.
  

• Leo quotes Bartlet's second inaugural address (delivered in January 2003) about the ending of the assault weapons ban. In real life the Federal Assault Weapons Ban was enacted in 1994 with a ten-year sunset, expiring in 2004.
  

• The MSNBC logo is seen on coverage of Abbey at the NASCAR race.

• Leo compares Bartlet's speech to the Gettysburg Address, and name-checks Lincoln. His word count is correct (272 words), but he says it took four minutes - the actual speech lasted only two minutes.
  

End credits freeze frame: The President and Leo talking things over after dinner.

Previous episode: Opposition Research

Next episode: King Corn

Opposition Research - TWW S6E11

 

Original airdate: January 12, 2005

Written by: Eli Attie (13)
 

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (23)

Synopsis

• Josh and Matt lock horns over policy, methods, and style of the fledgling campaign in New Hampshire - not to mention their ultimate goals.
  

"Mostly cause they think he's nuts. But - they're curious. That ain't nothing." 

Josh has made his call on who "his guy" is, that guy (Matt Santos) has agreed to jump off a cliff with Josh, and Donna has moved on from Josh's assistant to being a valuable deputy for the Russell campaign. That's all been done, and now we begin the story of the 2006 Presidential campaign in earnest.

Trouble is, this all kind of happened fast, and Josh and Matt really don't know each other that well. The clash of their styles, their intentions, the ways they think their campaign should be run make up this episode as we get ready for the New Hampshire primary. Josh knows how early campaigns work, he knows it's important to get Matt's face out there in front of the voters, to tell his personal story and (in states like New Hampshire) get into retail politics, shaking hands and talking to voters one-by-one, even at the town dump.

And the hardscrabble beginnings of an underfunded campaign lead us to the former sporting goods store headquarters, marked with a handwritten cardboard sign.

Josh also wants to have Matt prepared for everything, including getting background information on the other candidates. Matt refuses to play along with the opposition research ploy, insisting he'll run nothing but a clean campaign and not attack his opponents with negative ads.

Will Bailey asks for a meeting with Josh, also to get a "clean campaign, don't attack the other guy" promise out of him. It can't be unintentional that Will calls in Donna as part of the meeting, which surprises both her and Josh.

 

 

It's their first meeting since Donna quit in Impact Winter, leaving Josh with Marla Worsky as his temp assistant, and you know Will did it to knock Josh off his game. Which it does, at least temporarily, but as the days go on Josh learns Donna is a key member of that Russell staff.

Josh: "What make-work job do they even have you doing over there?"

Donna: "Media targeting for the Northeast and Pacific Northwest."

Then she delivers a boatload of letters from Russell supporters to the DNC asking to protect the New Hampshire primary, using an old Santos quote against him (more on that later). Yeah, Donna is doing just fine.

Matt, meanwhile, also isn't happy with Josh's just-get-to-know-folks plan. He wants to jump right in with a big policy speech on education, his primary campaign plank, and set himself up as the "education candidate" right out of the box. He's got university professors working with him to develop this plan, and his staffer Ned hammering out some of the details.

Josh is taken aback, especially when Matt uses some of the early meetings with Democratic party influencers/fundraisers to outline the specifics of his plan - a plan that would require more school days, more federal control of schools, and more money to pay for it all. That's not a policy that will play well in income-tax-free New Hampshire, and Josh tries to steer Matt away from touting it everywhere.

The early campaign seems to be constantly tripping over its own feet, from a campaign headquarters that reminds people of sinking ships to setting up the media to cover a visit with New Hampshire's oldest voter (a visit that doesn't happen, since the man died a couple of days earlier) to attempting a photo opportunity with President Bartlet's son-in-law that turns into an attack on Santos. Oh, yeah, that thing ... more stories from Matt's past begin dripping out in the press, including a statement he made eight years ago that was critical of New Hampshire's first-in-the-nation-primary status. That's the comment that leads Doug Westin to demand Matt publicly apologize for, which he refuses to do.

Josh knows he's got to get a handle on Matt's background, so he goes ahead with the "opposition research" - only it's on his own candidate. Josh's old pal Joey Lucas comes by to drop off the information, chiding him with "You should have done this weeks ago." And when Josh confronts Matt with some of the information he's discovered, especially the fact that he is financially supporting his brother and Josh needs to know if Matt tried to get him a government job, Matt goes off and admits maybe he's not in this for the long haul.

Matt: "We're lucky if we have two months with this, I don't want to waste it shaking hands!"

Josh (shaken): "Two months? ... I gave up everything for this, you're not even in it to win?"

Matt: "Maybe we have a different definition of winning, Josh. Maybe that's what we should have talked about in Houston." 

But despite all the missteps, despite all the bad news, despite the fact Josh feels like they're spinning their wheels and falling behind, something strange starts to happen. Right after Matt appears to be throwing in the towel on trying to win, right after Josh in frustration graffitos a mustache on a Bob Russell cardboard figure,

Ronna appears with a stack of papers.

Josh: "These are ...?"

Ronna: "Statements from the other campaigns, promising education plans by next week. No one was talking about it, and now they all are. Hoynes challenged the whole field to debate education. (giddily) We're moving the debate, Josh."

And immediately after that, Elizabeth Bartlet Westin arrives. She'd already chewed Josh out for his attempt to stop Doug's run for Congress a year ago, and dismissed any chance Santos has ... but she's back, she admits Matt is the only one talking about real issues, and she has a check for Josh.

Josh: "You're giving Matt Santos $2000?"

Elizabeth: "Yeah. Sorry, that's the federal limit."

Josh: "Liz, this goes on a publicly disclosed donor list. This is a Bartlet family contribution to Santos for President."

Elizabeth: "Funny thing about the FEC ... they really like it when you report this stuff."

She knows exactly what she's doing. Once the FEC reports come out with a Bartlet family member making a contribution to Matt Santos instead of Bob Russell, some eyebrows are going to be raised.

And finally, things between Josh and Matt begin to come together. Josh sees that Matt can be himself, he can push the policies he wants as his priorities, but he can tie that directly into his own life story, his own background. And Matt begins to understand that by following Josh's plan of introducing himself on a small-level "retail" basis, by telling his personal story of how education turned his life around, he can accomplish both the small-scale and big-picture things they both want out of the campaign.

Josh: "I don't know what you want my job to be ... for days now, I've been trying to get my head around this rationale. I used to tell candidates, make it about the voters, not about you. But the difference is you are them. Working-poor background, kids in public school, brother with a high-school diploma, he can barely read."

Matt: "And what does all that amount to besides a lousy stereotype?"

Josh: "It's why you're in this, it's why you're talking about education, what's wrong with telling people that?"

Matt is still not happy about the next event, "another three-person grip and grin" at Phil Hawk's house - it's not the big-group open venue he wants in order to promote his plans. But then, they go inside.

Josh: "This is more people than we expected."

Ronna:  "Yeah, some of the neighbors came."

Josh: "Because?"

Ronna: "Mostly cause they think he's nuts. But ... they're curious. That ain't nothing."

Josh: "Nah, that ain't nothing."

Josh's campaign experience and smarts were good enough to recognize he could take Matt's energy, drive, and enthusiasm over policy and combine that with his personal story, and now the Santos campaign actually is creating interest and forcing action by the other Democratic candidates. That, indeed, "ain't nothing." 

And the campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination is off and running.

Tales Of Interest!

- A rare case of the title screen being something other than white type on a black background. While there have been a couple of instances of the episode title being shown over the onscreen action of the show (Third-Day Story and Liftoff), the use of black letters on a white background is used for particularly significant episodes - Twenty Five, for example (the end of the Aaron Sorkin era) and Tomorrow (the final episode of the series). In this case, it's actually more of a grayish background. I think it serves two purposes - to indicate the beginning of the non-White-House presidential campaign episodes that will be more and more a focus of the series into Season 7 ... and also to bring us into the cold, gray, New Hampshire winter of the primary campaign.

- And, yes, this is the first of the campaign episodes that take place apart from the Bartlet White House and have very little connection to the administration storylines. We only see Toby and the President briefly, as the other end of telephone conversations with Josh; we don't see CJ or Leo at all. For a while the series will basically go in a pattern of alternating campaign episodes with White House episodes.

- The first episode of the series where John Spencer does not appear. Heck, he even showed up in a short non-speaking scene in The Long Goodbye, the CJ-centric episode where she was in Ohio the whole time.

- With this episode actually being shot in early December, that explains the Christmas decorations along the town's street. Although, true, sometimes those don't get taken down until later in the winter, so if this was January in New Hampshire, they might have still been up.

- Christopher Misiano gives us an extreme close-up of the New Hampshire license plate on the minivan Josh is riding in.

- Why'd They Come Up With Opposition Research?

Of course, because of the necessary research into the past positions (and sometimes personal lives) of your opposition that you need in order to run a campaign - or, as we find out here, research into your own candidate's past.

Quotes    

(Josh is looking at the cardboard Bob Russell standups at the Russell campaign headquarters)

Staffer: "Folks love taking pictures with those. Almost like the real thing."

Josh: "Almost."

Staffer: "They talk a little less."

Josh: "Don't say that too loud, his wife is going to want one." 

-----

Donna: "Hi."

Ronna (shaking hands): "Hi. Ronna."

Donna: "Actually, it's Donna."

Ronna: "Oh, no, it's Ronna."

Donna: "No, really, it's Donna."

Ronna: "I'm quite certain it's --"

Josh (exasperated): "Ronna, it's Donna; Donna, it's Ronna."

-----

Matt: "Well, you know, if we're going to do this I'm not going to make it easy. I'm going to give the big speeches, I'm going to push every limit, and that's the campaign you get to run."

Josh: "But what if I can't make that work?"

Matt: "Well, then no one can."

  

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

• Matt Santos' staffers from his congressional office, Ronna (Karis Campbell, from Rizzoli & Isles, The Fosters, an episode of ER) and Ned (Evan Arnold, from Spider-Man, Suburgatory, Veep, Close To Home) reappear. We first saw them in the background working in his office in Liftoff.

• New York Times White House reporter Greg Brock (Sam Robards) is in New Hampshire, covering not the Santos campaign but why in the hell top Democratic operative Josh Lyman is hitching his wagon to a completely unknown candidate. Brock first appeared in Full Disclosure, as the new White House correspondent who gave CJ an advance look at his article on John Hoynes' upcoming book.

• First Daughter Elizabeth Bartlet is here at home in New Hampshire. Played by Annabeth Gish (Mystic Pizza, Barry, The X-Files), she was last seen in the Christmas episode Abu el Banat, where we first discovered her husband Doug Westin was planning a run for Congress.

• Speaking of Doug Westin (Steven Eckholdt, known for Melrose Place, Friends, The L Word), here he is, campaigning for that congressional seat and trying to score some points at Santos' expense at the Fickle Pickle.

• Joey Lucas (Marlee Matlin) and her interpreter Kenny arrive, giving Josh the opposition research on Matt's background. We haven't seen Joey since her (very pregnant) appearance in The Benign Prerogative. It's also interesting that Josh has her doing background research on Santos, given that Joey's expertise is in polling (except for her very first appearance in Take This Sabbath Day when she was a campaign manager for a House candidate in California).

• A callback to Pilot and the general public's confusion over the term POTUS (President Of The United States) when one of Josh's volunteers calls up to him, "Mr. Lyman ... a call for you, a Mr. POTUS on the line?"

• As mentioned, Doug Westin's run for New Hampshire First District congressman - and Josh's opposition to him being that candidate - was a topic in Abu el Banat.
  

• Donna's departure from her job as Josh's assistant happened in Impact Winter, and in Faith Based Initiative we saw her hired by Will to join the Russell campaign.
  

DC location shots    

• Shot almost entirely in Dundas, Ontario, Canada, a suburb of Hamilton and not that far southwest of Toronto. This episode was filmed over a week in early December, 2004, with regular cast members Bradley Whitford, Janel Moloney, Joshua Malina, and Jimmy Smits making the trip. The production ended up using Canada to stand in for the winter scenes of campaigning in New Hampshire and Iowa, both for this episode and some upcoming ones - filming in Canada is considerably cheaper than shooting on location in the United States.
  

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

• Marshall Crenshaw's 1982 song "Someday, Someway" is heard as Josh and Matt drive into town. We never know which town, by the way ... it's probably got to be Manchester, as Russell's headquarters are right there, too, plus the Democratic bigwigs at Phil Hawk's house, but only the Litchfield dump gets specifically mentioned. Litchfield, New Hampshire, is a few miles south of Manchester.
  

• Matt mentions professors at Boston College and UNH (University of New Hampshire) who are helping with his education plan.
  

• Sporting goods store references and advertising signs include the Titanic, Under Armour, Sevylor, and Sportcraft. There's also a box of Dunkin Donuts donuts and a container of coffee seen.

• Josh's volunteer (the one who has to stop off and pick up dry cleaning) is driving a Chevrolet Venture minivan. The vehicle used to drive the Santos campaign staff around is a Jeep.

• Josh compares Doug's campaign to a "bad Grizzly Adams spinoff."
  

• Real life newspapers include the New York Times, the (Washington) Post, the (Manchester) Union-Leader, and the (Concord) Monitor.
  

• Former Presidents Jefferson and Madison and Chinese leader Mao Zedong are mentioned.
  

• There are references to the Mayflower and the kidnapping of the Lindbergh baby.
  

• The author Dr. Seuss comes up in conversation between Josh and Donna, with the two making goofs on the titles of his books One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish ("One Fish, Two Fish, Dead Fish, We-Fought-The-Good-Fight Fish"), The Cat In The Hat ("The Cat In The Imitation Cowboy Hat Fell Flat"), and Hop On Pop ("Hop On Bob").
  

End credits freeze frame: Josh and Matt having their moment outside Phil Hawk's house.

Previous episode: Faith Based Initiative

Next episode: 365 Days

Faith Based Initiative - TWW S6E10

 

Original airdate: January 5, 2005

Written by: Bradley Whitford (1)

Directed by: Christopher Misiano (22)

Synopsis

• A Senator's move to outlaw same-sex marriages (as well as rumors about CJ's sexuality) threaten to derail budget negotiations. Matt Santos makes the decision to put his faith in Josh and run for President.
  

"I'm in - if you're in with me." 

Hey, remember my last episode recap, when I said Josh's visit to Houston was the beginning of the Santos for President campaign? How that was the turning point for Josh in his future plans? Well, as it turns out, we discover in the opening moments of this episode that Matt Santos said no.

 

But he's thinking about it, about Josh's nine-point plan and Helen's doubts and the sheer audacity of it all:

Matt: "Josh wants me to run for President."

Helen (considers for a moment): "Of the United States?"

Matt: "I'm pretty sure."

Helen: "Wow, they are hard up."

 

He's thinking about it so much, in fact, that he comes unexpectedly to Washington to tell Josh he's all in, as long as that nine-point plan becomes ten ... that Josh is a part of it. 

 

And now the wheels are turning, with Matt Santos and Bob Russell and John Hoynes all in the mix for the Democratic nomination and Arnie Vinick looming over the Republican side, and we are buckled in for the major arc awaiting us over the final 34 episodes of The West Wing.

 

On the current presidential front, CJ finds herself the target of internet rumors about her sexuality, and the timing of those rumors seem connected to a surprise budget amendment - a Kansas senator has come up with the Sanctity of Marriage act, a bill that would outlaw the possibility of same-sex marriages across the nation. We saw a similar move from Congress back in The Portland Trip, when Josh went back-and-forth with a gay Congressman who actually supported a bill to ban same-sex marriages (Josh even refers to that storyline here, along with President Bartlet's pocket veto) - but now, putting CJ front-and-center with rumors about her possible romantic interests just seems to be a dirty trick to help move this amendment along.

 

CJ also really struggles with the perception of these rumors. She asks Annabeth to help draft a statement that she can use to address the online comments:

CJ: "And the statement? I just want to be sure this doesn't distract from the business of, say, the government."

Annabeth: "Yeah, I've been struggling with this a bit. You want to emphatically deny something you have no problem with and make it publicly clear that this is a private matter."

CJ: "That'd be great."

(pause)

Annabeth: "Okey-dokey."

Annabeth (and Toby) try to dissuade her, telling her that addressing the comments only gives them more credence, and acts as another unintended criticism of gays and lesbians. CJ is kind of hung up on a new beau, a fellow she's really infatuated with after a few dates, and the fact he's not reaching out to her as the rumors fly is another factor that's really bugging her and knocking her off her game. Finally, finally, she realizes Toby and Annabeth are right, and just before reading her statement to the press she makes the right decision.

Chris: "Are you a homosexual?"

CJ (starts to look at her statement, then folds it up): "You know what, I spent the last ... fourteen hours being snickered at by United States Senators, being ostracized on the world wide web, having my own colleagues question my ability to do my job ... and I let it get to me. So I don't think it really matters whether I'm gay or straight, or just the best damn women's basketball player in Ohio Valley history, no one should be treated this way."

Reporter: "You didn't answer the question."

CJ: "That's right, because it's none of your business."

Just as in The Portland Trip, President Bartlet doesn't want this same-sex marriage ban bill to come to his desk, and especially not as part of a desperately needed budget bill. He exasperates Toby and Josh, though, by insisting they "get it off the bill" but not giving them the threat of the veto that they need to do that. Once again, as we've seen particularly often since the end of Season 4, the President seems only weakly committed to his own policy positions and somehow deathly afraid of the Republican Congress (at least Toby actually brings up the fact that Bartlet isn't running again, so he should be more forceful in trying to push his policies through, instead of more cautious and careful). It's a bit frustrating to see an administration that fired up the entire staff to "serve at the pleasure of the President" and run through walls for him in Let Bartlet Be Bartlet now be cowering behind the curtains when the prospect of a fight comes up.

Toby tries - he goes to Senator Wilkinson to try to talk him out of his amendment, but there's no chance of agreement there. Josh tries, too, doling out government funding to various congressmen in hopes of turning their votes around, but that also seems like a losing battle (not to mention it really gets Josh's temp assistant Marla bent out of shape about bargaining with taxpayer money).

 

An offhand comment from Josh gets Toby on the track of where this same-sex marriage complication came from ... and he gets John Hoynes to admit he cooked up this plan along with his former colleague Wilkinson as a way to force Vice President Russell further to the right. Hoynes' plan was to make Russell come out in favor of the amendment, giving Hoynes space on the left of the Democratic party to get an advantage for the nomination. While Wilkinson is a true believer, Hoynes is just using the issue as a crass political tool - which unfortunately ended up with CJ caught in the undertow.

With all their cards played, Josh and Toby finally have to ask President Bartlet (still recuperating from his MS attack in China) to meet with Wilkinson, and somehow he gets the Senator to take the amendment off the budget. We don't see how that happens - in fact, we see Wilkinson recall a statement by the President that actually seemed to put him on the side of supporting the marriage ban. Which is not at all the position we saw back in The Portland Trip, or with the issue of gays in the military in 20 Hours In L.A.

It's almost like different people are writing the show now or something. Oh, and we also find out what Donna's new job might be, the one she told Josh she already had in the previous episode - she's interviewing with Will for a spot on Russell's campaign.

And Will is smart enough to tell her she won't be anybody's assistant here.

So, we struggle through the administration looking weak and unprepared when it comes to Wilkinson's amendment; we see Josh and Toby clash a little over Josh's plan to leave the White House and go out on a quixotic quest for the presidency with Matt Santos: we see Donna making a serious career move; we see CJ struggling with her romantic life, both fact and fictional; and we see President Bartlet continuing to fight back against his failing body. The final montage covers most of these points, as Josh gathers the courage to tell the President he's moving on and leaving the White House:

 

 

Donna opens a new chapter by opening the door of the Russell campaign headquarters in New Hampshire:

The President fights his way across the Oval Office, using his crutches and trying to regain his balance by the Resolute desk:

And Matt Santos announces his candidacy in front of a school in Houston, establishing his priority as an education candidate, with hand-drawn signs of support behind him, a determined Josh applauding along, and Helen by his side:

 

 

It's an episode that takes a convoluted path, and it's still not always making the points I think the Bartlet White House used to make, but it finally puts a lot of pieces together and I think now we can shift into gear and roll into the fun of the upcoming campaign.

 

Tales Of Interest!

- The scriptwriting debut of Bradley Whitford.

- The cold open (with Matt and Helen Santos) occurs immediately after the events of Impact Winter, right on the heels of Josh's visit to the Santos home. The rest of the episode happens a month later (as we see CJ first reacting to the internet rumors about her we can hear a news report in the background saying President Bartlet's visit to China was "last month").

- Another pointed mention of "seven years" as we are reminded yet again that the series skipped ahead a year somewhere around the Camp David Mideast summit and Liftoff (the DCCC staffers saying the midterms already happened in Liftoff makes it clear we skipped past the fall/winter of 2004, but the events of the Gaza blast and Donna's recovery, the summit, Leo's heart attack, and CJ's elevation to Chief of Staff couldn't have taken 10 months as they'd have us believe). Anyway, no way to solve it, just go along for the ride.

Toby is upset at Josh leaving to run the Santos campaign, saying "Seven years, you're gonna leave us with a candygram and a get-well card?" Interestingly, Will says Donna has "six years on the front lines," so I don't know why that is (we know Donna has been along from early in the first campaign from In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part II). We get another reminder of the skipped year when Josh asks Will about "Orange County, three years ago" when the events of Election Night happened in Season 4, just two years ago.

- The hallway scenes where Annabeth surprises CJ really show off the difference in heights (Allison Janney is six feet tall, while Kristin Chenoweth is just 4 feet 11 inches), but the show didn't play fair. Chenoweth was in her stocking feet while Janney was wearing boots.

CJ (to Annabeth): "Really? Four-ten?"

Annabeth: "Me? I'm four-eleven."

CJ: "I can't believe we're the same species."

- It's a somewhat spooky is-that-what-he-really-said prophetic moment in the discussion between Vice President Russell and Toby. Russell warns Toby that handling the same-sex marriage issue wrong could set back those rights by decades, while doing it in the right way could get the question settled in ten years. The Supreme Court decision Obergefell v. Hodges, in which the court found the Fourteenth Amendment guarantees same-sex couples the right to marry, was decided in June, 2015 ... ten years and five months after this episode aired.

- Gail's fishbowl is basically empty, except now there are two goldfish in there. Is this a nod to same-sex couples, CJ's rumored lesbianism, or just two fish swimming around?

- Why'd They Come Up With Faith Based Initiative?

The specific phrase is never said in the episode, but the obvious connection is to the Wilkinson amendment to ban same-sex marriage. In conversations with both Toby and the President, he makes it clear it's his Christian faith that drives him to oppose such unions. As a more thematic intention, though, it's Matt Santos' faith in Josh and his drive to help make him President that fits the title better - Matt is putting his faith entirely in Josh and his own personal desire to improve America by taking the initiative to run for President.

Quotes    

(CJ takes the gag gift basketball on her desk and smoothly shoots it into the wastebasket)

Josh: "I've never been more attracted to you in my life."

CJ: "Restrain yourself."

----- 

Toby: "Do me a favor, hold off on the statement, let me make some calls."

CJ: "Fine, but I think you're drastically overestimating the political potency of my sex life."

Toby: "Not possible." 

-----

Vice President Russell: "I've got a nephew who's gay. I love this kid. His name's Todd. I want him to have the same rights and opportunities as everybody else. He wants to go to West Point, and it makes me sick to think that we would send him into battle to defend the Union, but he can't enter into one."

Toby: "Then come out against this amendment."

Vice President Russell: "We're not there yet. Five thousand years of socialization didn't go out the window with the first Village People album - you do this wrong and there'll be a backlash that sets us back fifty years, you do it right we'll be there in ten."

-----

Toby (talking with Josh about Santos): "Why does he want to go to New Hampshire?"

Josh: "To run for President. (pause) I kinda talked him into it, I think I gotta go with him. I laid out a nine-point plan."

Toby: "Is one of the points a military junta?"

-----

CJ: "I'm a heterosexual. I-I don't know why I just said that, except that as of this morning I'm the most famous - not famous, but apparently the most powerful lesbian on the planet. And the fact of the matter is I'm crazy, absolutely crazy about this particular man I just met and had two fabulous dinners with in the space of one week, a man who hasn't had the courtesy to call me today, probably because he's simply of the undependable gender or, come to think of it, maybe he has even less of an idea about how to deal with my alleged and fictitious lesbianism than I do. So he'll just, remain silent, like a submarine under the ice cap and drift away. Just drift away like the legion of other cowards whom I spent my young life staring at the phone panting like an exquisite collie hoping for table scraps - until I became successful, and suddenly started to scare them, scare them with the very independence they required me to have, so that now, I'm looking at some bad numbers. Really rough stuff, if you know what I'm talking about. But what was I supposed to do, turn down an opportunity to serve the President of the United States, who I believe in and adore? You just want to share it all with someone, you know?"

(pause, as Leo takes it all in)

Leo (uncomfortably): "So, if you want to send down any more call sheets?"

----- 

CJ: "So we should do what, fight an amendment with no practical impact and massive popular support?"

Toby: "Yes, we should fight it, fight the symbol. Yes. Symbols matter. And if they didn't why would you care about what they say about you on the internet."

 

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

• It's Teri Polo (Meet The Parents, The Fosters, Northern Exposure - also appeared in 8 episodes of Aaron Sorkin's earlier series Sports Night) as Helen Santos. I am a huge fan of her performance as Helen - I'm not particularly a big Teri Polo fan in general, but I think she knocks it out of the park in The West Wing. It doesn't hurt that she and Jimmy Smits seem to have an abundance of chemistry together. 

• Marla Worsky is still Josh's temp, replacing Donna. She is ... pretty tough ("step away from the door!").
  

• Reed Diamond returns as Dr. Mike Gordon. We saw him as the doctor in the bunker during the anthrax scare in No Exit.

• Josh mentions a "Marriage Recognition Act" that President Bartlet used a pocket veto on during his first term. We saw that play out in The Portland Trip, with Josh debating his friend Congressman Skinner over the bill.
  

• President Bartlet is seen in his Notre Dame sweatshirt. Before accepting the role, Martin Sheen insisted Jed Bartlet be a Catholic and a graduate of Notre Dame.

• There are references to many, many storylines we have seen earlier in the series:
• President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis (first revealed in He Shall, From Time To Time ...) 
  
• Toby's marital background ("I've been married almost twice - to the same woman" meaning Congresswoman Andy Wyatt, first seen in Mandatory Minimums)
• Donna's desire for more responsibility and career growth leading her to quit working as Josh's assistant
• Leo's background as a former Secretary of Labor
• When Josh asks Leo to come with him and work on the Santos campaign, Leo's "I already found my guy" takes us back to Bartlet For America and In The Shadow Of Two Gunmen Part I, and Leo's involvement in the first campaign
  

• Some background on Will comes up a couple of times: Toby's remark that he's "not as obedient as he used to be" reminds us that Will worked as Toby's deputy between Arctic Radar and Constituency Of One, when he quit to go work for Vice President Russell; and Josh's comment about "Orange County three years ago" takes us back to Game On and Election Night, when Will ended up running a successful campaign for a House candidate who had died.
  

• Chris is one of the longtime White House press corps that we see in this episode, as well as the press cubicle areas first seen in Access.

• Nancy is back, played by Martin Sheen's daughter Renée Estevez.

• Senator Wilkinson reminds the President of a comment he made at the National Prayer Breakfast six weeks ago that led the Senator to believe he'd support a ban on same-sex marriages. The National Prayer Breakfast was the same event where President Bartlet (accidentally) accepted a gift of the Taiwanese independence flag that caused a diplomatic issue with China in A Change Is Gonna Come.
  

DC location shots    

• None. The street scene with Toby and Hoynes, with steam visible in the air, was almost certainly filmed on the Warner Brothers lot.
  

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

• CJ and Margaret talk about CJ's dates with Tommy at the Oval Room. The Oval Room was a DC restaurant near the White House that closed in late 2020 after 26 years in business. The site is now the French restaurant La Bise.
  

• It's an official two-color WNBA Spalding basketball that CJ shoots into the trash can. Spalding was the official basketball of both the NBA and WNBA between 1983 and 2021, when Wilson took over as the supplier.
  

• CJ compares Toby to an overly protective "dog in Pompeii." This would appear to be a reference to a short story called The Dog Of Pompeii, written by Louis Untermeyer in 1915, a fictitious story of a blind boy and his dog in Pompeii around the time of the city's destruction by Mount Vesuvius' eruption in 79 AD.
  

• We see a clip that clearly is from CNN on the TV in Josh's office, with former CNN anchor Jack Cafferty visible.

• Annabeth has a long list of real-life publications covering the rumors over CJ - The Advocate, Out, The Village Voice, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Washington Times, the Boston Globe, MSNBC, Fox News, and Soap Opera Digest. Goddess Monthly and the Nantucket Republican appear to be fictional. There's also a nameplate for Newsweek in the press cubicle room.
  

• While talking about Fox News, Annabeth mentions "both mean Irish guys." I'd assume one of them would be Bill O'Reilly and the other Sean Hannity.
  

• The Village People get a shout-out, as well as the Washington Mystics of the WNBA.
  

• Leo says he's almost up to the Hoover administration in his review of his old documents.
  

• Leo brings up the National Enquirer and Elizabeth Taylor while he's trying to cheer up CJ over her internet rumors.
  

• When CJ tells Josh to start handing out spending projects to help get the Sanctity of Marriage act off the budget bill, he says, "Maybe Sioux City needs a monorail." To me, this sounds like a reference to the classic Simpsons episode Marge Vs. The Monorail, from 1993.
  

• Another one of the pork-barrel projects Josh talks about handing out is "an indoor rain forest in Iowa." That was an actual proposal in the early 2000s, first slated for downtown Des Moines, then for Coralville near Iowa City, and finally destined for Pella, Iowa (which is where I went to college in the mid-1980s). After much controversy and opposition federal funding was totally withdrawn in 2007 and the project remains dormant, although the Earthpark website is still up and running (well, it was in 2023, it's not now).

• President Bartlet quotes Theodore Roethke's poem Infirmity when he says, "How body from spirit does slowly unwind, until we are pure spirit at the end." The poem was published posthumously in Roethke's 1964 collection The Far Field.
  

• Tommy Keller sends CJ a rose and a dinner invitation inside a Nike sneaker.
  

End credits freeze frame: The President and Senator Wilkinson having their discussion in the Oval Office.

Previous episode: Impact Winter

Next episode: Opposition Research