Clashing Reelection Drafts and Toby's Job Offer
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
C.J. introduces the binary options 'Answer A' and 'Answer B' to frame the President's potential announcement, setting up the scene's central tension.
C.J. outlines 'Answer A'—a confident reaffirmation of seeking reelection—while Josh and Sam remain silent, their lack of response underscoring its improbability.
Josh delivers 'Answer B'—a scathing rejection of reelection, citing scandals and illness—with dark humor, provoking C.J.'s blunt critique of its tone.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Drained resolve masking grief-stricken pragmatism
C.J. sits drained and serious, proposes contrasting 'Answer A' (defiant reelection affirmation) and endorses 'Answer B' as too direct, drinks water thoughtfully while processing, stares apologetically at Sam after his outburst, tension etching her composure amid staff fractures.
- • Craft viable press responses to shield Bartlet's reelection amid crises
- • Maintain team unity despite escalating frustrations
- • Bold defiance can rally public support post-MS revelation
- • Press conference must proceed to control the narrative
Angry frustration boiling over raw grief and doubt
Sam sits silently then looks down angrily, rises to pace and yells pleas to cancel the press conference citing uncertainty and sour public mood, snaps at interruption, exits quickly as tensions peak, embodying idealistic frustration.
- • Persuade team to halt press conference amid leadership vacuum
- • Protect Bartlet from premature exposure without clear strategy
- • Proceeding without resolve risks catastrophic public backlash
- • Grief and MS fallout demand strategic pause over rash action
Weary determination steeling against despair's pull
Toby sits silently drained and serious, curtly dismisses Sam's cancellation pleas insisting leaked story demands 8pm presser proceed, snaps sarcastic barb at window lighting, sighs resigning to Summerhays meeting, greets professionally then storms out rejecting cable pitch.
- • Enforce press conference to seize narrative control
- • Reject defection temptation preserving administration loyalty
- • Duty demands defiance despite impossible odds and grief
- • Leaked crises force confrontation, not retreat
Professionally neutral amid surrounding exhaustion
Ginger briefly opens the door into the tense office, addresses Toby directly to signal impending arrival, facilitating transition to Summerhays' ambush amid heated debate.
- • Relay scheduled meeting per hierarchy
- • Synchronize staff movements without intrusion
- • Protocol overrides emotional turmoil
- • Timely interruptions sustain operational flow
Professional sympathy cloaking predatory ambition
Greg Summerhays enters post-debate exodus, closes door for privacy, offers sympathetic nod and condolences on Landingham's death, pivots to pitch 24-hour cable news channel competing aggressively while eyeing Atlantic Intermediate buyout, leans forward intently.
- • Lure Toby with job and buyout amid White House turmoil
- • Exploit grief and crises for media expansion
- • Administration vulnerability creates recruitment window
- • Toby's talent suits rival cable venture
condolences offered by Greg Summerhays regarding her recent death
extensively discussed as subject of press conference debate on reelection responses amid MS diagnosis, investigations, and grief
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
C.J.'s glass of water serves as a grounding prop amid intellectual storm, condensation-streaked tumbler raised deliberately for sips while pondering press strategies, its chill cutting grief-thick air to steady her as Sam's fury erupts—symbolizing fragile composure in crisis.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Truman Balcony invoked hyperbolically in Josh's brutal 'Answer B' as grotesque site of familial public humiliation preferable to poisoned campaign, its vertiginous exposure over South Lawn amplifying metaphor of raw political vulnerability and Bartlet's neck-crushing burdens amid MS, probes, grief.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Grand Jury cited as federal dragnet in Josh's rant, subpoenaing over MS deception with prison shadows haunting Bartlet, propelling staff despair and Toby's loyalty test in presser resolve, crystallizing legal peril amid Landingham mourning.
Congress looms as merciless foe in Josh's savage 'Answer B,' poised for 'lunch date' ambushes and funding strangleholds targeting Bartlet's MS lies, fueling debate's pessimism and underscoring existential threat to reelection amid grief-fueled fractures.
Atlantic Intermediate surfaces as Toby's side project when he preempts Summerhays' pitch, target for cable news buyout amid White House woes—its ideological thunder tempting defection, rejected in furious exit affirming loyalty over personal gain.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"C.J.: Mr. President does this mean you won't be seeking a second term. Answer A is you bet. I will absolutely be seeking a second term. Looking forward to the campaign. There is great work yet to be done."
"JOSH: Are you outta your mind? I can't possibly win the election. I lied about a degenerative illness. I'm the target of a Grand Jury investigation and Congress is about to take me out to lunch. I'd sooner have my family take off their clothes and dance the Tarantella on the Truman Balcony than go through a campaign with this around my neck."
"SUMMERHAYS: Let me get to why I'm here. I want to... TOBY: Buy Atlantic Intermediate."