Toby Forges Ethical Pivot to Crumbling Schools Issue Ads
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bruno and Connie strategize on how to bypass campaign finance laws by altering ad language to avoid direct candidate endorsement.
Sam challenges the ethics of the altered ads, calling them a scam, while Connie defends them as an illusion.
Bruno passionately defends the need to fight back against right-wing rhetoric, refusing to cower anymore.
Toby proposes focusing on genuine issue ads to raise awareness about crumbling schools, gaining tentative support from Sam.
The team collaboratively drafts a message highlighting the dire state of America's schools, aligning their strategy with both ethical and practical goals.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Initially indignant skepticism thawing into cautious acknowledgment
Sam sharply denounces leaflet changes as non-magical scams and straitjacket evasions, questions Bruno's attachment to 'idiot leaflets,' but gradually concedes reasonable merits in education polls, echoing ad copy to align on parallel free media paths.
- • Expose ethical sham in loophole ads
- • Pivot to legitimate issue ads strengthening Bartlet's platform
- • True spirit of law bans soft money regardless of wordplay
- • Republicans' unearned education lead demands counterattack
Resolute conviction fueling inspirational redirection
Toby enters querying 'Where are we?', validates Bruno's fire with agreement, redirects to spirit-honoring authentic issue ads on healthcare, opportunity, and school construction, probing team consensus on crumbling schools' electoral impact.
- • Channel raw passion into legally pure issue ads
- • Unite fractious team around Bartlet's moral strengths
- • Authentic issues like schools embody Democratic fire
- • Raising crisis awareness inherently aids re-election
Righteously frustrated, boiling with pent-up partisan fury masking strategic desperation
Bruno bursts in clutching leaflets, aggressively pitching ad rewrites like 'We're fighting to rebuild crumbling schools' and 'Paid for by Democrats for America,' then unleashes a profanity-laced rant decrying Democratic cowardice, laughing at Toby's school pivot while fueling collaborative scripting.
- • Convince team to adopt loophole ads for unrestricted funding
- • Ignite passionate commitment to aggressive campaigning
- • Past Democratic timidity has ceded ground to Republicans
- • Ethical purity loses elections; pragmatic illusions win them
Coolly assured, radiating pragmatic triumph amid ethical firestorm
Connie confidently backs Bruno's pitches, explaining 'magic words' as illusions skirting laws, affirms the scam label with cool admission, and contributes vivid school ad copy about crumbling walls and trailer-packed kids, solidifying the team's pivot.
- • Educate team on Buckley loopholes for soft-money ads
- • Co-author authentic issue ad to harness unified momentum
- • Legal illusions like 'magic words' enable necessary firepower
- • Issue ads on real crises like schools expose GOP weaknesses
Referenced in proposed ad script as fighting to rebuild crumbling schools, with his picture on screen.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Bruno shoulders in clutching armloads of printed campaign leaflets exemplifying 'magic words' loopholes—candidate ads disguised as issue blasts. Sam savages them as 'idiot leaflets' central to the scam debate, their bold pages fueling the pitch until fury pivots to ethical school spots, binding the team's resolve.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Daylit Roosevelt Room hosts high-stakes verbal crossfire where idealism clashes with pragmatism, leaflets splayed amid rising tension; it cradles the pitch, rant, and collaborative scripting, transforming discord into strategic unity under re-election pressure cooker dynamics.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Republicans loom as spectral foes in Bruno's blistering rant and ad strategy—blamed for smearing liberals as 'soft' on core issues and falsely polling strong on education. Team counters with school crisis spots to dismantle their phantom merits, escalating partisan ad war.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"The explanation of campaign finance loopholes precedes strategizing to bypass them."
Themes This Exemplifies
Thematic resonance and meaning
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"BRUNO: Cause I am tired of working for candidates who make me think I should be embarrassed to believe what I believe, Sam. I'm tired of getting them elected. We all need some therapy, because somebody came along and said "liberal" means soft on crime, soft on drugs, soft on Communism, soft on defense, and we're gonna tax you back to the Stone Age because people shouldn't have to go to work if they don't want to. And instead of saying "Well excuse me, you right-wing, reactionary, xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun, 'Leave it to Beaver' trip back to the fifties," we cowered in the corner and said "Please, don't hurt me." No more."
"TOBY: I agree. So let's stick to the spirit of the law. No, I'm saying let's do an issue ad, an actual issue ad. Let's do a bunch. Health care, equal opportunity-- School construction."
"SAM: There's actually a reasonable point here. New polls see Republicans as better on education with no basis for it."