Denver, Colorado
Detailed Involvements
Events with rich location context
Denver invoked as culprit for Wengland's stranding, distant disruption rippling into backstage crisis, compressing logistical failure into emblem of vulnerability that derails Sam's strategy.
Remote and obstructive (referenced)
Source of logistical disruption
Emblem of unpredictable transit chaos fracturing plans
Colorado functions as an offstage political map location invoked to explain why certain strategic moves (like presidential appearances) were necessary and why losing a vote there would be electorally costly.
Invoked as a fragile electoral prize—tense with implied risk.
Political battleground referenced to justify precautionary strategy.
Represents electoral vulnerability and the tangible stakes behind abstract legislative fights.
Colorado is invoked verbally by Josh as the off-site origin of the lost vote; though not physically present, it functions narratively as the trigger that transforms the local scene from optics to emergency, embodying the geographic source of political defeat.
Not physically present but rhetorically charged as the site of a political betrayal and the cause of immediate alarm.
Off-screen catalyst: the state whose senator flipped and thereby upends the administration's legislative math.
Represents the fragility of electoral alliances and the way single-state politics can reshape national events.
Colorado is invoked verbally as the specific source of the defecting vote; as a referenced location it becomes the proximate cause of the emergency, collapsing geographic politics into immediate operational consequence.
Not physically present but atmospherically charged — invoked with reproof and alarm.
Political signifier and origin of the legislative setback that drives the event's urgency.
Represents the fragility of electoral coalitions and the unpredictability of swing-state politics.
Denver is mentioned as the site of historical 'drive-by' shootings in Donna's anecdote; the reference functions to surprise Josh and elicit comic disbelief, reframing violent tropes through anachronistic imagery.
Evoked with dry humor; not a physical setting in the scene but an imaginative cue.
Illustrative historical example that supplies the 'punchline' to Donna's commentary.
Serves to undercut contemporary panic with absurdities of the past.
Events at This Location
Everything that happens here
Backstage at Capital Beat, Sam learns his preferred opponent, Wengland, is stranded in Denver and the producers scrambled — they couldn’t get the usual heavy hitters and have booked a …
Josh slips into the Republican cloakroom, puncturing the room's guarded formality with historical banter to buy an informal moment with opposing staffers. The tone flips when Josh quietly probes for …
During a public walkabout President Bartlet warmly greets and shakes hands with onlookers, embodying presidential accessibility. A Hispanic woman thrusts a blue envelope toward Charlie — a personal plea that …
A routine walkabout photo-op collapses into a political emergency when Josh calls C.J. to report they are "a vote down"—Colorado has defected. The President is still shaking hands as Charlie …
While Josh is juggling an urgent, high-stakes call about meetings and votes, Donna breezes into his office with distracting but affectionate trivia from a book. She rattles off odd historical …