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Martin Sheen as President Josiah Bartlet
With another Roosevelt
NBC Photo: Michael O'Neill
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Teleplay: Aaron Sorkin, Story: David Gerken & David Handelman, Director: Lesli Linka Glatter
- Takes Place: First Tuesday after the first Monday in November in a Presidential Election year
- Broadcast: November 6, 2002
- Query: What was the song playing after the President gave his victory speech?
- At 10 am, people on the staff are already assuming they have won.
- ". . . we won. We don't have to pander," Sam tells them.
"Please don't say that. . . ." Toby says from the other end of the room. "I'm not kidding. . . . We haven't won anything yet."
"The speech is done," C.J says.
"Two speeches are done," Toby tells her.
"What's the second?"
"I've got a speech if he wins. I've got a speech if he doesn't."
"You wrote a concession?" Sam asks him.
"Of course I wrote a concession. You want to tempt the wrath of whatever from high atop the thing?"
"No."
"Then go outside, turn around three times, and spit. What the hell is the matter with you?"
"It's like 25 degrees outside. . . ." Sam sits down not taking any of this seriously. Then Josh joined the meeting and he tells him that Toby "wrote a concession speech."
"Of course, he wrote a concession speech. Why wouldn't he? What possible reason would he have for not to writing a concession speech?"
"The wrath from high atop the thing."
"He up and said we were gonna ---"
"No, you have to go outside turn around three times and curse."
"Spit."
"Spit and curse."
"Do everything. Go!"
"Go!" Getting it from both sides now, Sam gets up and flees to the freezing outdoors.
When he gets back, C.J. tells him, "You can't be too careful."
"I think you can," Sam mumbles.
- Meanwhile, news about Toby's ex-wife's pregnancy is getting into public domain. While the soon to be parents go to have a sonogram. Toby uses the time to try to talk to Andy about getting the news out.
- "Do I need to tell you the first rule of damage control?
"No you don't. But the next time you refer to this pregnancy as damage ---"
"Get the information out early. Get it out yourself. Do it on your own terms."
"That's three rules." The discussion is interrupted when the ultrasound image on the screen comes up.
"Andy, you can see their. . . . heads. My kids have heads."
- Will Bailey of the campaign in Orange County has exit polls that are showing his dead candidate doing better than any of them expected. Sam starts to wonder what he might have gotten himself into when he promised to run if they won and a special election was held.. He made a promise to a new widow and is now thinking about going back on his word he tells Donna.
- "Because the alternative is taking ninety days off to go home, lose by twenty points to a Republican committee chair I hate, and never be able to run for public office for real, which is something I maybe wouldn't mind doing one day."
- Charlie, who is still Anthony's "big brother", finds that now Anthony is bringing him others to help. And Debby is taking over control of the Oval Office: rearranging how the President makes outgoing calls, making rules for the daily senior staff meeting . This initially interferes with how Bartlet and Josh go about their jobs.
- Donna, who seems to have filled out her absentee ballot wrong, has been outside a polling place trying to get someone to switch votes with her. After six hours she runs into Lt. Commander Reese, who, it turns out has just been assigned to work at the White House. He tells her that he realizes it is an honor thing and that he will help her out.
- And back in California Will Bailey is desperate for rain which may stop some Republicans from voting. The Fates actually respond to his call for the predicted storm. Later Josh and Toby tell Sam about it.
- "In the 47th, Horton Wilde, who's dead, is losing by 88 votes. It was a perfect storm. . . . Low Republican turnout because the President won the Midwest. Low supporter turnout because Webb didn't have an opponent, and the DNC gave up on it a week ago, so the RNC left town, and they never saw the exits your guy Will Bailey was seeing."
"Plus, there was an actual storm," Toby adds. Sam still hasn't told them how this might affect him.
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#407 "Election Night"
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