West Wing Continuity Guide
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path: Home / Second Season Episodes / * #221 (43) "18th and Potomac"

C.J.
Alison Janney as Press Secretary CJ Cregg
- NBC Photo: David Rose
Teleplay: Aaron Sorkin, story: Lawrence O'Donnell Jr., director: Robert Berlinger
Takes Place: May ("May sweeps" is mentioned.) It is about seven months from the Iowa caucus (which is contradictory) - the year is after the millennium (which was during the administration - "We used it to plan some of the millennium things")
Broadcast: May 9, 2001
Query: What does it mean to "invoke 1070 OAS"?

As the staff prepare to tell the American people about the President's MS, the world keeps right on having distracting problems: events in Haiti turn violent and spin out of control, and the Justice Department's case against Big Tobacco is having money problems, but something else turns out to be the biggest distraction of all. In the midst of all this, Toby decides it is time to tell Donna so she can help Josh. Toby tells her:
"You're the first person on the assistant level to find out. Margaret doesn't know. Bonnie and Ginger don't know. Donna, Mrs. Landingham doesn't know."
Leo is trying to figure out what is going on, when Nancy, the National Security Advisor, comes in he says,
"Nancy. The Cavalry."
"You guys need some adult supervision?"
"No, we need the cavalry."
C.J. deals with arrangements with a Network for the President's announcement while a minute before she was briefing reporters on the situation in Haiti. She handles everything as when she gets into this exchange with a reporter:
"You didn't answer my question," he says.
"How about that."
The President decides to talk to his staff about what he is going to say on reelection when he discloses his MS. He tells Leo:
"You're right, you know. I should be bringing them in on reelection. I should be talking to them. . . . I don't want to make the same mistakes over again."
"Not when there are so many new mistakes we can make."
When Josh thinks they may have to soften their fight for the money for the Big Tobacco law suit, Leo says:
"We're not going to stop, soften, detour, postpone, circumvent, obfuscate or trade a single one of our goals to allow for whatever extracurricular nonsense is coming our way in the next days, weeks and months".
"When did we decide this?" Toby asks.
"Just now."
In the last five minutes of this episode we lose a character who has been in almost every episode and has been dear to all those involved. It is this incident that gives the title to the episode.

For anyone interested in guest stars of this episode (as well as more information),
let us recommend the West Wing Episode Guide.

Background from Bravo: What you need to know from past episodes.


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