A strategic, institutional power struggle: Bartlet/Toby/Leo orchestrate personnel moves and leverage the scandal window to reconfigure the FEC and close the soft‑money loophole — trading appointments, cajoling votes, and using coercive theater to secur...
A strategic, institutional power struggle: Bartlet/Toby/Leo orchestrate personnel moves and leverage the scandal window to reconfigure the FEC and close the soft‑money loophole — trading appointments, cajoling votes, and using coercive theater to secure policy wins.
Events in This Arc
In the Oval, Bartlet confronts C.J. over a tabloid claim—Steve Onorato's memo that the administration wants to legalize drugs—forcing a collision between policy nuance and political optics. C.J. insists the …
Following a bruising personnel maneuver to remove an exposed ambassador and reassure a staffer caught in a tabloid setup, President Bartlet shifts to high-stakes bargaining with Senator Max Lobell. Bartlet …