Émission TV: The West Wing - 7x6
Previously on The West Wing: Sir, I've drawn up a letter of resignation.
I can't accept your resignation.
I have to fire you.
Obviously there will be a partisan push to probe past Toby...
...to cause us more difficulty.
I'm offering...
Well, not so much offering as dragooning you...
...to be the new White House communications director.
What are you doing here?
The agenda was debate negotiations.
The Republicans have nominated a pro-choice, anti-God candidate.
Vinick is gonna have some good days.
We're giving him too many.
Do you realize how few voters actually read that rag?
The New York Times?
Every network-news producer reads it.
Every columnist reads it.
Can't run a campaign for editorial writers.
We'd have 12 votes.
That Times piece was 10 times worse for Vinick.
He's the one dragging his feet on debate negotiations.
He rejected the debate commission's plan.
They called it a classic case of trying to sit on a lead.
I can see why it's classic.
He's been leading for two months now.
I don't know why the Times slammed us.
We're doing everything we can.
The dates Vinick wants, the locations Vinick wants.
It's starting to look like I'm desperate to debate him.
Will you stop?
I am just saying...
...watch it with the body parts.
You're the next president of the United States.
Don't say that.
You have a standard to uphold.
She held out her forearm.
You signed higher than her forearm.
At which body part do you draw the line?
Bruno, help me out here.
The guy's a rock star.
David Cassidy meets David Rockefeller.
All those body-parts votes.
He's the next president of the United States.
Would you please stop saying that?
Vinick is a terrific debater.
And every time he backs away from the negotiating table...
...every time his aides tells The New York Times...
...that I'm the greatest since Socrates...
...they're lowering expectations on his performance and raising mine.
He doesn't need the debates, we do.
There's no way to hide that.
What good are debates if I have to demolish him to win?
I have another negotiating session with Bruno tomorrow.
Break the logjam.
And lower expectations.
Okay, those are contradictory orders.
The more I give to get an agreement, the more it's...
Get it done.
Santos pulled out of North Dakota and West Virginia.
There is not a state we're not competing in.
We could win all 50.
Get used to it, senator.
Neither of you is worried about this Times editorial.
Nope.
They're calling me "the roadblock to democracy."
We still have a shot at the Times' endorsement.
We're gonna get a deal on debates soon enough, and on our terms.
The Times is just rapping us on the knuckles.
The governor of New York called, urging you to...
I'm not going to the Al Smith Dinner.
Presidential nominees always go.
No one's thrilled about vice-presidential candidates.
You know what they're gonna want.
Biggest event in New York.
Obviously a huge deal in the Catholic community.
You could go.
Speak about your opposition to partial-birth abortion.
Oh, bad idea.
I'm not gonna give a speech about partial-birth abortion...
...to people who think any abortion's a sin.
New York's competitive.
Catholic vote's critical.
And I'm pro-choice, same as Santos.
I'd be crazy to engage this issue.
You've got another call from New York about...
Have Josh return it.
Who's Al Smith anyway?
First Catholic to run for president, 1928.
Why's the dinner such a big deal?
It's a big benefit for Catholic charities.
It's the most political nonpolitical event in New York.
Ballroom full of Catholics?
Should be your crowd.
Vinick doesn't even go to church.
It's just what I need, huh?
A contest over who gets the most boos for: "I support a woman's right to choose. "
Leo will handle it.
Six o'clock wake-up?
Make it 5:30.
Through Ohio.
While Senator Vinick is back in Washington tonight...
...
Congressman Matthew Santos is in Michigan...
...
fighting for the state's 17 electoral votes.
As the electoral map narrows, you can bet they'll both be in Michigan...
Why are we talking about the environment in Michigan?
You talk about it everywhere.
It's Michigan.
Hug a tree, kill a Chrysler.
We're four points up there.
We don't need to get hit for pandering.
You wanna spend a few minutes on thank-you notes for New Mexico?
No, I got the list.
It's been a great day.
Why don't you guys rest.
Are you sure?
Yeah, go ahead.
Okay, see you.
Okay.
Matthew Santos is in Michigan...
...
fighting for the state's 17 electoral votes.
As the electoral map narrows...
...
you can bet they'll both be in Michigan more and more.
We'll be right back after this.
This November, America faces a vote of conscience.
Matt Santos on human life: Do I wanna limit access to abortion?
No.
Turn on MSNBC. "
No" on telling you...
...
when your daughter wants an abortion. "
No" on banning partial-birth abortions.
I need Sheila.
Paid for by the Committee for the Integrity of Human Life.
Who the hell is the Committee for the Integrity of Human Life?
And who told them to drag abortion into my campaign?
It's a bareknuckled attack ad.
It's not our ad.
The public won't make the distinction.
You think some left-leaning committee isn't gonna slam us right back?
Then we're in a negative ad war.
Plus, they're hitting Santos...
...for what a lot of Republicans think is my position on abortion.
The ad does lay out some pretty clear differences.
Which may play great to a few right-wing partisans.
It'll look phony and political to everyone else.
I want this ad pulled.
I want the chairman of the Republican Party...
...to say this committee does not speak for us.
I'll say it too.
If any of our people are involved on this, fire them.
It's out of context.
You remember the quote?
I remember what I think.
This seems like I'm for abortion on demand.
I'm not defending it.
It's a right-wing parody.
We'll find whatever footage...
Find it tonight.
It'll be hard to rebut.
You voted against the ban.
Republicans wouldn't carve out an exception for the life of the mother.
You voted against parental consent.
No judicial override.
There are pro-life judges refusing requests, even for incest victims.
I am not for unlimited abortion.
Look, I don't know how we respond...
...but by tomorrow this is gonna be on every cable network across the country.
As news, for free.
It's gonna hurt us with swing voters.
If he's taking the gloves off, so can we.
Twenty years of Senate flip-flops.
It's fair game.
No one can say it's not.
Josh?
We don't know Vinick's behind this.
He benefits from it.
If we turn this campaign full-tilt negative, we can never go back.
Call Vinick's people.
Tell them to call this a lie and get it off the air.
I want a counterattack ready to go by morning if they don't.
I'm not comfortable in Toby's office.
Think of it as the communications director's office.
I can't help thinking of it as a federal crime scene.
Have we heard from policy shops?
This Toby story will drown out everything...
...but then we'll need new policy.
DPC says they're tapped out.
They say we should highlight the good things the government's doing.
Oh, great.
Wait till people find out there's a post office.
President's going on a tour of distressed urban areas...
...to promote jobs in inner cities.
I'll announce it next week.
Today at your first briefing.
You don't want that today.
I do.
I need to get up to speed.
I don't know the first thing about the leak investigation.
Refer those questions to Counsel.
Those questions?
What about the entire briefing?
We have to show we've replaced Toby without missing a beat.
There's an ongoing investigation.
There's not much we can say.
Congressman, there's an independent ad attacking you on abortion.
It's a complete distortion of my views.
What do we know?
The Committee for the Integrity of Human Life is a 527.
One of these "independent" expenditure committees.
No connection to us or the RNC?
I wouldn't say that.
Its major donors all give to the RNC.
And a few are big donors of yours too.
You talk to the party chair?
Hodder won't denounce it.
Thinks it would be bad for us.
Has he seen it?
He wants us to get into a mud-wrestling match with Matt Santos?
The chairman's view is that it fires up social conservatives.
Reminds them that, while you may be pro-choice...
...Santos is for virtually unrestricted abortion.
You have to denounce it yourself before a huge bank of cameras.
You want this piece of trash on the air?
No.
But I don't want you or anyone else criticizing pro-life anything.
We are trying to win a mandate in a country that is 60 percent pro-choice.
We cannot get cute with this.
Hodder's got credibility with the right-to-lifers.
I don't.
He's the one that has to kill this.
I wanna see him this afternoon, right after the Maryland rally.
Get your bank of cameras ready.
Well, excuse me.
Joshua, I'm looking forward to our next round of negotiations.
Maybe this time you'll propose hourly debates...
...with breaks for IV nutrition for the candidates.
Your side's running a vicious attack ad.
It is not my side.
It is not my ad.
Get that ad off the air...
...renounce who put it there, or the gloves are off.
There are laws against coordination with an indep...
Call the RNC.
I need copies of every negative Santos spot they've been working on.
C.J.
Wanted you to have this revised schedule.
You haven't heard back...?
Your request to postpone the briefing?
Unless you count, "Don't ask if Will can postpone."
Doesn't count.
Never heard back.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I'm Will Bailey, assistant to the president...
...and the new director of communications.
I'll be conducting the daily briefings from now on...
...and I have a statement to make at this time.
One week from today...
...the president will launch a bold and far-reaching New Markets initiative...
...an interagency effort to bring jobs and private investment...
...to distressed urban communities.
We're handing out a list of initial agency efforts.
Small-business loans, tax incentives...
...Commerce's new Adopt-an-Entrepreneur program.
Which, of course, we expect to be controversial.
I'll take your questions.
Will!
Will!
Will!
Did any of the White House senior staff...
...know that Toby Ziegler was leaking security secrets?
There's an ongoing investigation.
I'll refer you to the president's statement.
It doesn't speak to that.
I'm not going to parse his statement.
We're not asking you to parse it.
Good, since I'm not going to.
Did any senior staff know Toby was lying from that very podium?
Toby Ziegler's been dismissed by the president...
...an indication of what this White House thinks.
I'm asking what the White House knew.
Two weeks ago, Toby said...
I refer you to Counsel.
Counsel isn't answering questions.
I'll have to get into that.
Will!
Yes?
They're crushing him like a grape.
He's doing fine.
So Santos pulls out of North Dakota and West Virginia.
That's great news so soon after Labor Day.
Yeah.
Give us a chance at that West Virginia second.
That Santos crew doesn't know a damn thing about party-building.
Mr.
Chairman.
Good to see you.
Good to see you again.
I don't like that abortion ad.
I don't care how you deal with it.
Hold a press conference...
...say they don't speak for the party...
...but I want it dealt with now.
It's becoming a national story.
No one showed me that ad.
I wouldn't have run it.
But you know what it would do to walk away from it?
An attack that, quite frankly, Arnie...
...lots of folks think should be in your stump speech.
Santos and I are both pro-choice.
I can't pretend there's some huge difference between our positions.
Santos thinks my 14-year-old daughter...
...needs my permission to get an aspirin in school...
...but not an abortion?
The platform's pro-life.
The people in this party who do the phone-banking...
...plant lawn signs, get half our guys elected, they're pro-life too.
Mr.
Chairman, this is a rough negative ad at a time when we don't need it.
This committee knows nothing from tactics.
Maybe it's not tactics, they mean what they say.
We know how hard you're working to keep social conservatives...
...on the reservation.
We were this close to a third-party candidacy from the religious right.
I'm concerned they stay home on election day.
This ad hurts me as much as it hurts Santos.
Maybe more.
Pro-lifers have their issues with you.
But Santos is for unlimited abortion.
If you don't denounce that ad, I'm gonna have to do it myself.
Can I speak candidly?
You've been sugarcoating it?
Corporate conservatives love you.
Neo-cons and libertarians may love you.
Bruno Gianelli Democrats may love you too.
Social conservatives don't.
You never speak about their issues.
You send mixed signals about judicial appointments.
You are the first nominee in 20 years to skip the Al Smith Dinner...
...because God forbid you might be near some religious voters.
Well, I can't meet my responsibility to this party without them.
No candidate could hold those groups together.
If this were Europe, the Republican Party would be three parties.
They don't have to sleep together, they just have to vote Republican.
You realize how many states my pro-choice position puts on the table?
You realize how we can grow this party if we're willing to reach out?
I guess I'd like to see you unite the party that we have now.
I'm not denouncing that ad.
I don't think you want to either, Arnie.
Any comment on the independent ad attacking Santos on choice?
I oppose all 527 ads.
You think Vinick's behind this?
I don't know.
Could be.
Found the interview they used in the ad.
It's from three years ago.
KPRC in Houston.
So let's talk legislatively.
Do I wanna limit access to abortion?
No.
Because there are common-sense limits under the law right now.
Should we work together to reduce the number of abortions?
Absolutely.
And that's where I think we can find common ground.
They took it out of context.
Yeah.
So why is it on television?
It's fraud.
Well, you do say pretty clearly you're not for limiting access.
We called the stations.
They're not gonna pull it.
They think it's a fair charge.
I've got Leo.
He's back at headquarters.
Leo?
You already said it's a distortion.
I worry about too tough a response.
It makes this a much larger story.
Can 't get any larger.
They're talking about it on CNN, Fox, probably the Home Shopping Network.
We are the pro-choice party, there's no denying it.
I'm not sure we don't stand up and say: "Damn right, I'm pro-choice, so is 60 percent of the country."
I have to make it clear I'm not for abortion without limits.
What if we hit Vinick on a different level?
Taxes, cronyism.
We haul out a list of special-interest giveaways he's supported.
Look, this is about something more fundamental.
Vinick's appeal is that he's a different kind of Republican.
Moderate, reasonable, pro-choice.
Congressman's right.
This shows that his centrism's a bad coat of paint.
Guy has a long record of pro-choice votes.
Then why is his party platform pro-life?
He promised that he would appoint pro-life judges.
He's not too attached to that voting record.
Let this stand, and we strip away what's different.
Santos is a religious Catholic, not another secular Democrat...
...who can be portrayed as hostile to heartland values.
Leo?
I worry about elevating this.
But if the charge sticks, it could kill us with values voters.
And that puts Vinick's nine-point lead in the bank.
We hit him...
...and we hit him hard.
We don't start with a negative ad.
No.
We get one ready, but our first hit on Vinick will be a media bonanza.
Why waste money on an ad?
We use a spokesman for this.
We don't elevate it to Santos' or Leo's level.
Clarify our guy's not for abortion without limits.
It's a sham.
Anyone can see from the full interview.
And then, bam, we hit Vinick with a political two-by-four.
You don't have to be happy.
You don't have to be queasy.
You don't know Santos.
This becomes full-out negative...
He's got a glass jaw?
I think we lose the war.
I think the other side is better at this and they have more to work with.
I did the Marienhoff Senate campaign.
You know those charges, he had dealings with Taiwanese businessmen?
He did.
Those were the charges.
Anyway, we ran against Barrett.
Clean as a bar of soap.
We hit him first with everything we could find.
When he hit back, the voters thought it was just an ugly campaign...
...a pox on both our houses.
You're proud of that?
I'm proud that Marienhoff defends Medicare in the Senate.
I'm proud that he votes against every reckless tax cut.
We're the blue team, and there's a real war going on.
Josh, do you want the right wing to get their judges?
No.
Then stop being so queasy.
We hit Vinick for hypocrisy, for saying he's pro-choice...
...and letting anti-choice ideologues pick his judiciary and run lying ads.
I'll phone the language in.
Don't use our regular spokesman.
Find a woman.
You know, a 40-something soccer mom.
What about debate negotiations?
I'm meeting with Bruno this afternoon.
We're still on makeup and deli trays.
There's gonna be debates.
Vinick doesn't want to incur the wrath of The New York Times.
We have to stop being so eager.
We have to change our body language.
Let them chase us.
I've had nine meetings with Bruno on this.
He knows how I think.
He doesn't know me. "
No" on banning partial-birth abortions.
Is that a vote you want...
Have you seen this abortion ad?
It's all over cable news.
They're predicting a negative ad blitz by Friday.
I'm amazed it took them this long to get started.
Someone gave the president this adage: "The best place to store surplus food is in someone else's stomach."
Use it in this briefing.
We're announcing 50 employers have joined the New Markets initiative.
Which would you have when you're hungry, rotten food or...?
No, I get it.
It's just, a second briefing?
You saw the wires.
They counted the questions I was asked.
I didn't answer one of them.
You thought we'd get good coverage?
Forty-seven, a career high.
Let them punch themselves out.
You're talking to the punching bag.
My job's to look like I'm not ignorant.
Counsel won't even brief me on Toby's firing.
I asked them not to.
Don't you want me to have credibility?
Your ignorance is your credibility.
Your constituents aren't in that room, they're in distressed urban areas.
You brief at 4.
0 for 47.
I'm the Jamaican bobsledding team. "
Securing America's future."
"Securing," not "strengthening."
He's not a personal trainer.
Is that statement all set?
All set.
Got a woman to read the thing?
Right out of central casting.
No nose rings, brow piercings?
Trust me, this gal's a cold glass of milk.
She was working for the Midwest coordinated campaign.
Lou asked for Vinick's Senate flip-flops.
Yeah.
Are we about to run our very first...?
They're starting.
Campaign in Washington...
...
for their response to the independent ad attacking Matthew...
Tell him no, we're not doing the Al Smith Dinner.
Not in the middle of all this.
Good afternoon.
It is wrong and misleading to imply through edited footage...
...
that Congressman Santos is for abortion...
This is Otto.
That's Donna.
Who?
The dairy queen, Donna Moss.
What happened to our 40-something soccer mom?
Lou hired her last week to do Midwest press.
Looks too young, huh?
The Women's Alliance for Choice called.
They want a meeting.
We were talking about an endorsement event.
Have Leo do it.
I don't want Santos meeting with them till this abortion stuff cools.
And the American people need to know, which is the real Arnold Vinick?
The one who supports a woman 's right to choose...
...
and votes accordingly, or the one whose party has a pro-life platform...
Yes, they're ready to go.
She's hitting me from the left and right.
We have to wait until we see what Santos runs.
Telling the right I'm pro-abortion, the left I'm a captive of religious nuts.
The RNC upped their ad buy another 750 points.
Every battleground market.
And since I don't have a uterus like Tippi Hedren here...
...I'm not qualified to talk about it.
All the networks are running pieces on the Santos abortion ad tonight.
I'm gonna go out there and call it trash and a lie.
I don't like it either, but Hodder's not wrong.
Nothing in that ad's inaccurate.
Santos couldn't have written a better ad.
They're whacking me for playing both sides.
That 527's raised a quarter of a million off last night's airings alone.
After tonight, it's gonna be 20 times that much.
This is energizing the very people...
...we were afraid were gonna stay home in November.
You think I should stand by it.
No.
You should scrub your Michigan swing...
...go to the Al Smith Dinner, talk about your opposition to partial-birth abortion.
And the minute that Santos runs his first negative ad, we run a hundred of ours.
Years I've been looking forward to this campaign.
I never imagined it would look like this.
It'll look better after you win.
Mr.
Bailey.
Will!
Good afternoon.
We're handing out lists of private-sector commitments...
...to the president's New Markets initiative.
It shows the business community is deeply engaged...
...in job creation for poor communities.
As the Eskimos said, if you store your food in somebody else's stomach...
...well, then you'd better hope it doesn't need refrigeration.
Will!
Yes?
Has the president been asked to testify in the investigation?
That's a matter for Counsel.
Will he assert privilege?
I'll refer you to this morning's briefing.
You said you'd get back to us on that.
See, now you're cheating.
You didn't need to be referred.
Does the president consider Mr.
Babish's conversations with Mr.
Ziegler privileged?
I'm not getting into that.
Isn't Mr.
Babish also a witness?
Have to check with him.
You've been in this job four days.
When are you gonna sit down with Counsel and get us some answers?
I'm not.
Mr.
Bailey, right here.
Will, right here.
I'll take one from you.
The attack ad, funded by a group of Vinick and RNC donors...
...
has sparked what many believe was inevitable this presidential year: A volley of negative charges...
...
with independent Democratic groups already saying they'll respond in kind.
Taking a look at your money, the dollar fell against the euro this week...
Who are you?
Louise Thornton.
Josh couldn't make it.
Stuck in Michigan?
Santos benched him, sent me.
We have magazines outside if you get bored with those.
Any good ones?
Are we going to, how shall I say...
...negotiate?
No.
This may look like your dentist's waiting room.
It's a negotiating session for presidential debates.
You want as few debates as possible...
...but don't wanna tick off the debate commission or the opinion elites, right?
And I think Vinick could kick Santos' abortion-loving ass all over the stage.
Game over.
Check, please.
And?
And I'm your best buddy on this.
No debates.
You can blame me.
Like a magazine?
A half-hour of this...
...and I can tell the congressman it didn't work out.
You understand why I'm taking this meeting instead of Santos.
He can't be seen with the Women's Alliance for Choice.
Not while he's trying to limit abortion.
He's not trying to limit abortion.
Not what his spokeswoman said.
It's rhetorical positioning.
President Bartlet did it too.
President Bartlet never ran against a pro-choice Republican.
We haven't endorsed a candidate yet.
I know.
We have to push that back a bit.
See, we need moderate votes to chip into Vinick's lead.
We don't wanna make Santos the baby-killing candidate.
Excuse my expression...
We're thinking of endorsing Vinick.
Becca...
...you're not talking to some punk congressional staffer.
He's pro-choice and probably gonna win.
You can't honestly believe...
How you gonna close a nine-point gap?
You'll be lucky if you get one debate.
The way Santos has been begging, Vinick's expectations are so low...
...he'll just have to avoid tripping over the podium.
We're the pro-choice party.
Don't sound like it.
Vinick won't criticize his party on this.
Partial-birth, parental notification.
He's bowing to the far-right fringes.
But if he wins, they really will be the fringes, won't they?
Then both parties will be where the country is: Pro-choice, down the line.
If you help a Republican get elected, you'll destroy...
Think how many more Republicans...
...would have the courage to stand up for a woman's right to choose.
Thank you.
Virginia's steel sector is a model for the country.
You should be proud.
Thank you.
The debate negotiations seem to be off. "
Seem to be"?
The Santos campaign blew them up.
It's a ploy.
Better be.
They need debates 10 times more than us.
We can wait it out.
That's the bad news.
Let's have the good news.
The Women's Alliance for Choice wants an endorsement meeting.
You're kidding.
The heart of the Democratic base wants to support you.
Santos would be doomed.
We'd win 53 states, couple of desert islands.
How do we know this isn't a setup?
We meet them and find out.
I don't know.
You know, if a pro-choice group gets within 53 feet of me...
...the Republican Party would go crazy.
You're a pro-choice candidate.
They're the pro-choice lobby.
This isn't a typical election.
How can they endorse a Republican...
...who's against partial-birth abortion, who's for parental notification?
This could be Santos screwing me.
I know these people.
I can keep this meeting quiet.
No.
The RNC has five negative ads ready...
...that would blow Santos out of the water.
But it's gonna harden his support on the left.
It's gonna make us more dependent on the right.
Yeah, we still win, but we win dirty.
Wouldn't you rather outflank him?
If this becomes a press story...
...that I'm courting not just the center but the organized left...
...I'd be kissing off a quarter of the Republican base.
I can't win without my own party.
We're going to New York tomorrow.
I'm speaking at the Al Smith Dinner.
Tell Sheila I need speech language on partial-birth abortion.
Something that'll mollify the right.
Arnold Vinick promises he'll cut taxes.
Then why do economists say that would break his pledge to balance the budget?
He says he's pro-choice.
Then why do news reports say...
...
he told the far right he'd pick anti-choice judges?
Arnold Vinick.
If he's on both sides, how can he be on your side?
Hey.
You hired Donna Moss?
No, I picked her off the street and put her on national television.
She was the absolute wrong person for that hit on Vinick.
Didn't we say 40-something with kids?
We said a woman, and she was great.
She worked for Russell in the primary.
So did half the available Democratic talent.
She worked for me before that.
That is a strike against her.
I can see why you're concerned.
The debate negotiations are off.
They're off?
We walked away.
I gave it to the Times and Journal.
Hope this works.
Vinick can live without debates.
We don't get them, we're toast.
This is exactly what we need.
Proof we're willing to walk away.
If we're lucky, the Times will call us a roadblock.
Donna Moss gave dozens of bad quotes about Santos in the primary.
You may run communications, but I'm campaign manager.
I sign off on any new spokesperson.
The Women's Alliance For Choice is thinking of endorsing Vinick.
Okay, very bad news.
Oh, yeah.
Is it public?
Not yet.
Maybe it hurts Vinick with the right.
Great.
Vinick loses the right, keeps middle and left.
The only way for us to get votes...
...is plastering the Ten Commandments all over our campaign bus.
One-point-five million for naturally chilled water transportation?
What's next, an earmark for stuffed olives?
Back into the breach.
Down the hall, left at The Crucible.
Wanna offer any tips?
Follow your instincts.
My instincts say to curl up in a ball in my office.
Then follow your job description.
Down the hall, left at the...
So I tell Legislative Affairs...?
The president's not signing the bill.
Not when it looks like happy hour at the Algonquin.
Get some of these earmarks out of it.
I am pleased to announce that as part of our upcoming New Markets tour...
...President Bartlet will visit the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...
...home of the Oglala Sioux Nation, to talk about the importance...
...of investing in Native American communities.
I'll dodge your questions now.
When was the last time a sitting president visited an Indian reservation?
That would be Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1936.
Next question.
Did you talk to Joey Lucas?
She's got a version of our spot without the monster-chiller theater music.
Yeah, come with me.
Where are we going?
The bedroom off the staff room.
I don't wanna seem ungracious, we've all been under a lot of pressure.
It's just that...
Hi.
Hi.
I don't know what the problem is, but she's great on TV.
I don't care who she worked for in the primaries.
Right now, it's all hands on deck, so work it out.
What on-the-record experience do you have?
A job interview?
I'm campaign manager.
I hire staff, it involves an interview.
Experience?
Six hours ago, televised press conference, Santos-McGarry campaign.
References?
Josh Lyman, campaign manager.
Try the main switchboard.
He'd tell you campaigns demand loyalty.
You don't work for the other guy.
The party's front-runner.
You knew I wasn't supporting him.
Me, your mentor in professional politics.
The guy who kept me in grunt-level servitude...
...because I knew he liked burgers burned.
I gave you a career.
As a short-order cook.
I'm still waiting for the spatula...
Hope you're getting along.
It just broke.
Women's Alliance wants to meet Vinick.
I need you to spin it.
Bad for him, fine for us.
How's that even possible?
Bad for us, worse for him, whatever.
How's the congressman?
He's been better.
The Women's Alliance?
And two more things.
Vinick changed his schedule.
He's speaking at the Al Smith Dinner.
We've got 50 reporters wondering if we're doing the same.
Why the hell would Vinick do the Smith Dinner?
Because an in-your-face pro-choice speech could seal the endorsement.
What was the second thing?
The bishop from Camden, New Jersey, issued a statement.
If Santos comes to Mass in Camden, he'll deny him Communion.
His views on abortion have placed him in a state of grave sin.
How's that play with values voters?
Don't be spooked by the Times.
Staff was right to blow up the negotiations.
A bad editorial never killed anyone.
Not that I won't hear about it at this DCCC dinner.
You heard about the diocese of Camden?
You don't go to Mass in Camden.
Lou and Joey are almost done with our first negative ad.
I know you wanted a more substantive campaign.
That's not what bothers me about it.
What then?
Negative ads work.
The more we run them, the more people believe the worst about us.
So we pummel each other to the ground.
Whoever crawls across the finish line wins.
Yeah.
How do I get back the Women's Alliance?
Come to New York tomorrow and meet with them.
Tell them you're taking the stage at the Al Smith Dinner...
...and defending a woman's right to choose.
And be ready for me to be the only guy clapping.
So I'm the abortion-without-limits guy?
We're the pro-choice party.
You gotta dance with the one who brung you.
Vinick just landed in New York too.
No intelligence on what he's saying at the dinner.
What hit did we take in last night's poll?
Four points on "shares values."
Vinick took a bigger hit.
Fifty-nine percent think he should denounce the ad.
Swing voters think he's a typical Republican.
They won't when he's endorsed by a pro-choice group.
We need a way to spin it if they endorse Vinick.
It would be a political earthquake.
From a group that's on our side.
They're not on our side.
They're on their own side.
They're an interest group jockeying for influence.
Think their supporters vote Republican no matter what the leadership says?
Poll that.
I bet 85 percent of them are dyed-in-the-sackcloth Santos supporters.
Phone Joey with that for tomorrow's poll.
I'm on it.
Talk to Treasury about that debt-relief report.
The president's interested in an event on it.
Sure.
He thinks agency response...
...to New Markets has been thin.
You should crack a few subcabinet heads.
Did you see today's briefing?
Yeah.
We need a better answer on the energy bill.
DOE's been dickering around.
Right.
Set up a call with McGinn at Treasury.
And I need a fresh list of those agency commitments.
Will Bailey.
Segal, the pressure's all mine.
On the record?
I'd say...
...it's something either administration would have to love.
It's pro-business.
It's anti-poverty.
Investigation's ongoing.
I really can't comment.
Segal?
Nope, keep talking.
I'm not going anywhere.
That ad's pretty tough.
We can't afford to take our foot off the gas.
Vinick will hit back.
He's probably already bought airtime.
He has.
We can do the meeting with the Women's Alliance for Choice in hold.
You don't have to be on-stage for half an hour.
We'll talk about our ad buy after dinner.
We'll see you in there, congressman.
I hope you're gonna give a tough speech on partial-birth abortion tonight.
These folks need to hear it.
This story about the Women's Alliance wanting to endorse you, it's a disaster.
Because I'd get more votes for a position I happen to hold?
You can't let this Communion thing bother you.
Most Catholics are pro-choice.
How do bishops expect politicians to do...
...what they can't even do in their own church?
The Bible's silent on the issue.
Not one word that says it's the destruction of a human life.
It is.
You're pro-life?
I believe life begins at conception.
Well, ain't that a kick in the pulpit.
Politics is about practicality.
Not if you think abortion is murder.
Whether you do or not, Roe v.
Wade has been law of the land for decades.
Most of the country's not ready to change that.
Neither am I.
Well, that's not the party's position.
I joined this party because liberals were the ones...
...who wanted something from the government.
We just wanted government to leave us alone.
Especially when there's no consensus otherwise.
I'm trying to lead the majority who agrees on that.
Not the minority who wants to enact their version of Leviticus into law.
We're a big tent, Arnie.
Room enough for all.
You're gonna denounce that ad tonight.
I'm not responsible for making you more palatable with the abortion lobby.
Denounce that ad, or I'll do it in my speech...
...in front of two dozen bishops and a tent full of Catholic charities.
Leo tells me you might defend the right to choose tonight.
Proudly, aggressively.
This would be a gutsy place to do it.
We're the pro-choice ticket.
I still believe that the Women's Alliance...
...needs to encourage pro-choice Republicans.
The Democratic Party needs to, as well.
We need to make clear that we're not hostile to people who are anti-abortion. "
Pro-choice" means anyone can do what they want.
Yeah, but it shouldn't mean we're proud of whatever they choose.
Maybe this chest-beating is the reason the right can get away with that ad.
The reason why a leader of my church can exile me...
...for not trying to impose my religion on the country.
And we're surprised people out there think we're for unlimited abortion?
That there are voters who are pro-choice that think that we're too extreme?
Political posturing aside, precisely what limits are you for?
You support abortion to choose a baby's sex?
Of course not.
After an IQ test?
No.
You support limits on abortion yourself.
Isn't it all a matter of degrees after that?
Who are you, who are any of us...
...to say where someone should draw the line for themselves?
What are you saying tonight?
That abortion's a tragedy.
That it should be legal.
It should be safe.
It should be a whole lot rarer than it is now.
You have a problem with that...
...you can endorse whoever you want.
Ask him if he can hold off until the morning.
We're on our way into the banquet right now.
I thank our very special dais guests...
I'll grab you after the intro.
...at this evening's annual Alfred E.
Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner.
I'm delighted to introduce the Honorable Leo McGarry...
...and the Honorable Ray Sullivan.
Two highly distinguished public servants...
...whose extraordinary vision and leadership...
...will guide this country for years to come.
Gentlemen, thank you for joining us here this evening.
We're pleased to
I can't accept your resignation.
I have to fire you.
Obviously there will be a partisan push to probe past Toby...
...to cause us more difficulty.
I'm offering...
Well, not so much offering as dragooning you...
...to be the new White House communications director.
What are you doing here?
The agenda was debate negotiations.
The Republicans have nominated a pro-choice, anti-God candidate.
Vinick is gonna have some good days.
We're giving him too many.
Do you realize how few voters actually read that rag?
The New York Times?
Every network-news producer reads it.
Every columnist reads it.
Can't run a campaign for editorial writers.
We'd have 12 votes.
That Times piece was 10 times worse for Vinick.
He's the one dragging his feet on debate negotiations.
He rejected the debate commission's plan.
They called it a classic case of trying to sit on a lead.
I can see why it's classic.
He's been leading for two months now.
I don't know why the Times slammed us.
We're doing everything we can.
The dates Vinick wants, the locations Vinick wants.
It's starting to look like I'm desperate to debate him.
Will you stop?
I am just saying...
...watch it with the body parts.
You're the next president of the United States.
Don't say that.
You have a standard to uphold.
She held out her forearm.
You signed higher than her forearm.
At which body part do you draw the line?
Bruno, help me out here.
The guy's a rock star.
David Cassidy meets David Rockefeller.
All those body-parts votes.
He's the next president of the United States.
Would you please stop saying that?
Vinick is a terrific debater.
And every time he backs away from the negotiating table...
...every time his aides tells The New York Times...
...that I'm the greatest since Socrates...
...they're lowering expectations on his performance and raising mine.
He doesn't need the debates, we do.
There's no way to hide that.
What good are debates if I have to demolish him to win?
I have another negotiating session with Bruno tomorrow.
Break the logjam.
And lower expectations.
Okay, those are contradictory orders.
The more I give to get an agreement, the more it's...
Get it done.
Santos pulled out of North Dakota and West Virginia.
There is not a state we're not competing in.
We could win all 50.
Get used to it, senator.
Neither of you is worried about this Times editorial.
Nope.
They're calling me "the roadblock to democracy."
We still have a shot at the Times' endorsement.
We're gonna get a deal on debates soon enough, and on our terms.
The Times is just rapping us on the knuckles.
The governor of New York called, urging you to...
I'm not going to the Al Smith Dinner.
Presidential nominees always go.
No one's thrilled about vice-presidential candidates.
You know what they're gonna want.
Biggest event in New York.
Obviously a huge deal in the Catholic community.
You could go.
Speak about your opposition to partial-birth abortion.
Oh, bad idea.
I'm not gonna give a speech about partial-birth abortion...
...to people who think any abortion's a sin.
New York's competitive.
Catholic vote's critical.
And I'm pro-choice, same as Santos.
I'd be crazy to engage this issue.
You've got another call from New York about...
Have Josh return it.
Who's Al Smith anyway?
First Catholic to run for president, 1928.
Why's the dinner such a big deal?
It's a big benefit for Catholic charities.
It's the most political nonpolitical event in New York.
Ballroom full of Catholics?
Should be your crowd.
Vinick doesn't even go to church.
It's just what I need, huh?
A contest over who gets the most boos for: "I support a woman's right to choose. "
Leo will handle it.
Six o'clock wake-up?
Make it 5:30.
Through Ohio.
While Senator Vinick is back in Washington tonight...
...
Congressman Matthew Santos is in Michigan...
...
fighting for the state's 17 electoral votes.
As the electoral map narrows, you can bet they'll both be in Michigan...
Why are we talking about the environment in Michigan?
You talk about it everywhere.
It's Michigan.
Hug a tree, kill a Chrysler.
We're four points up there.
We don't need to get hit for pandering.
You wanna spend a few minutes on thank-you notes for New Mexico?
No, I got the list.
It's been a great day.
Why don't you guys rest.
Are you sure?
Yeah, go ahead.
Okay, see you.
Okay.
Matthew Santos is in Michigan...
...
fighting for the state's 17 electoral votes.
As the electoral map narrows...
...
you can bet they'll both be in Michigan more and more.
We'll be right back after this.
This November, America faces a vote of conscience.
Matt Santos on human life: Do I wanna limit access to abortion?
No.
Turn on MSNBC. "
No" on telling you...
...
when your daughter wants an abortion. "
No" on banning partial-birth abortions.
I need Sheila.
Paid for by the Committee for the Integrity of Human Life.
Who the hell is the Committee for the Integrity of Human Life?
And who told them to drag abortion into my campaign?
It's a bareknuckled attack ad.
It's not our ad.
The public won't make the distinction.
You think some left-leaning committee isn't gonna slam us right back?
Then we're in a negative ad war.
Plus, they're hitting Santos...
...for what a lot of Republicans think is my position on abortion.
The ad does lay out some pretty clear differences.
Which may play great to a few right-wing partisans.
It'll look phony and political to everyone else.
I want this ad pulled.
I want the chairman of the Republican Party...
...to say this committee does not speak for us.
I'll say it too.
If any of our people are involved on this, fire them.
It's out of context.
You remember the quote?
I remember what I think.
This seems like I'm for abortion on demand.
I'm not defending it.
It's a right-wing parody.
We'll find whatever footage...
Find it tonight.
It'll be hard to rebut.
You voted against the ban.
Republicans wouldn't carve out an exception for the life of the mother.
You voted against parental consent.
No judicial override.
There are pro-life judges refusing requests, even for incest victims.
I am not for unlimited abortion.
Look, I don't know how we respond...
...but by tomorrow this is gonna be on every cable network across the country.
As news, for free.
It's gonna hurt us with swing voters.
If he's taking the gloves off, so can we.
Twenty years of Senate flip-flops.
It's fair game.
No one can say it's not.
Josh?
We don't know Vinick's behind this.
He benefits from it.
If we turn this campaign full-tilt negative, we can never go back.
Call Vinick's people.
Tell them to call this a lie and get it off the air.
I want a counterattack ready to go by morning if they don't.
I'm not comfortable in Toby's office.
Think of it as the communications director's office.
I can't help thinking of it as a federal crime scene.
Have we heard from policy shops?
This Toby story will drown out everything...
...but then we'll need new policy.
DPC says they're tapped out.
They say we should highlight the good things the government's doing.
Oh, great.
Wait till people find out there's a post office.
President's going on a tour of distressed urban areas...
...to promote jobs in inner cities.
I'll announce it next week.
Today at your first briefing.
You don't want that today.
I do.
I need to get up to speed.
I don't know the first thing about the leak investigation.
Refer those questions to Counsel.
Those questions?
What about the entire briefing?
We have to show we've replaced Toby without missing a beat.
There's an ongoing investigation.
There's not much we can say.
Congressman, there's an independent ad attacking you on abortion.
It's a complete distortion of my views.
What do we know?
The Committee for the Integrity of Human Life is a 527.
One of these "independent" expenditure committees.
No connection to us or the RNC?
I wouldn't say that.
Its major donors all give to the RNC.
And a few are big donors of yours too.
You talk to the party chair?
Hodder won't denounce it.
Thinks it would be bad for us.
Has he seen it?
He wants us to get into a mud-wrestling match with Matt Santos?
The chairman's view is that it fires up social conservatives.
Reminds them that, while you may be pro-choice...
...Santos is for virtually unrestricted abortion.
You have to denounce it yourself before a huge bank of cameras.
You want this piece of trash on the air?
No.
But I don't want you or anyone else criticizing pro-life anything.
We are trying to win a mandate in a country that is 60 percent pro-choice.
We cannot get cute with this.
Hodder's got credibility with the right-to-lifers.
I don't.
He's the one that has to kill this.
I wanna see him this afternoon, right after the Maryland rally.
Get your bank of cameras ready.
Well, excuse me.
Joshua, I'm looking forward to our next round of negotiations.
Maybe this time you'll propose hourly debates...
...with breaks for IV nutrition for the candidates.
Your side's running a vicious attack ad.
It is not my side.
It is not my ad.
Get that ad off the air...
...renounce who put it there, or the gloves are off.
There are laws against coordination with an indep...
Call the RNC.
I need copies of every negative Santos spot they've been working on.
C.J.
Wanted you to have this revised schedule.
You haven't heard back...?
Your request to postpone the briefing?
Unless you count, "Don't ask if Will can postpone."
Doesn't count.
Never heard back.
Good morning.
Good morning.
I'm Will Bailey, assistant to the president...
...and the new director of communications.
I'll be conducting the daily briefings from now on...
...and I have a statement to make at this time.
One week from today...
...the president will launch a bold and far-reaching New Markets initiative...
...an interagency effort to bring jobs and private investment...
...to distressed urban communities.
We're handing out a list of initial agency efforts.
Small-business loans, tax incentives...
...Commerce's new Adopt-an-Entrepreneur program.
Which, of course, we expect to be controversial.
I'll take your questions.
Will!
Will!
Will!
Did any of the White House senior staff...
...know that Toby Ziegler was leaking security secrets?
There's an ongoing investigation.
I'll refer you to the president's statement.
It doesn't speak to that.
I'm not going to parse his statement.
We're not asking you to parse it.
Good, since I'm not going to.
Did any senior staff know Toby was lying from that very podium?
Toby Ziegler's been dismissed by the president...
...an indication of what this White House thinks.
I'm asking what the White House knew.
Two weeks ago, Toby said...
I refer you to Counsel.
Counsel isn't answering questions.
I'll have to get into that.
Will!
Yes?
They're crushing him like a grape.
He's doing fine.
So Santos pulls out of North Dakota and West Virginia.
That's great news so soon after Labor Day.
Yeah.
Give us a chance at that West Virginia second.
That Santos crew doesn't know a damn thing about party-building.
Mr.
Chairman.
Good to see you.
Good to see you again.
I don't like that abortion ad.
I don't care how you deal with it.
Hold a press conference...
...say they don't speak for the party...
...but I want it dealt with now.
It's becoming a national story.
No one showed me that ad.
I wouldn't have run it.
But you know what it would do to walk away from it?
An attack that, quite frankly, Arnie...
...lots of folks think should be in your stump speech.
Santos and I are both pro-choice.
I can't pretend there's some huge difference between our positions.
Santos thinks my 14-year-old daughter...
...needs my permission to get an aspirin in school...
...but not an abortion?
The platform's pro-life.
The people in this party who do the phone-banking...
...plant lawn signs, get half our guys elected, they're pro-life too.
Mr.
Chairman, this is a rough negative ad at a time when we don't need it.
This committee knows nothing from tactics.
Maybe it's not tactics, they mean what they say.
We know how hard you're working to keep social conservatives...
...on the reservation.
We were this close to a third-party candidacy from the religious right.
I'm concerned they stay home on election day.
This ad hurts me as much as it hurts Santos.
Maybe more.
Pro-lifers have their issues with you.
But Santos is for unlimited abortion.
If you don't denounce that ad, I'm gonna have to do it myself.
Can I speak candidly?
You've been sugarcoating it?
Corporate conservatives love you.
Neo-cons and libertarians may love you.
Bruno Gianelli Democrats may love you too.
Social conservatives don't.
You never speak about their issues.
You send mixed signals about judicial appointments.
You are the first nominee in 20 years to skip the Al Smith Dinner...
...because God forbid you might be near some religious voters.
Well, I can't meet my responsibility to this party without them.
No candidate could hold those groups together.
If this were Europe, the Republican Party would be three parties.
They don't have to sleep together, they just have to vote Republican.
You realize how many states my pro-choice position puts on the table?
You realize how we can grow this party if we're willing to reach out?
I guess I'd like to see you unite the party that we have now.
I'm not denouncing that ad.
I don't think you want to either, Arnie.
Any comment on the independent ad attacking Santos on choice?
I oppose all 527 ads.
You think Vinick's behind this?
I don't know.
Could be.
Found the interview they used in the ad.
It's from three years ago.
KPRC in Houston.
So let's talk legislatively.
Do I wanna limit access to abortion?
No.
Because there are common-sense limits under the law right now.
Should we work together to reduce the number of abortions?
Absolutely.
And that's where I think we can find common ground.
They took it out of context.
Yeah.
So why is it on television?
It's fraud.
Well, you do say pretty clearly you're not for limiting access.
We called the stations.
They're not gonna pull it.
They think it's a fair charge.
I've got Leo.
He's back at headquarters.
Leo?
You already said it's a distortion.
I worry about too tough a response.
It makes this a much larger story.
Can 't get any larger.
They're talking about it on CNN, Fox, probably the Home Shopping Network.
We are the pro-choice party, there's no denying it.
I'm not sure we don't stand up and say: "Damn right, I'm pro-choice, so is 60 percent of the country."
I have to make it clear I'm not for abortion without limits.
What if we hit Vinick on a different level?
Taxes, cronyism.
We haul out a list of special-interest giveaways he's supported.
Look, this is about something more fundamental.
Vinick's appeal is that he's a different kind of Republican.
Moderate, reasonable, pro-choice.
Congressman's right.
This shows that his centrism's a bad coat of paint.
Guy has a long record of pro-choice votes.
Then why is his party platform pro-life?
He promised that he would appoint pro-life judges.
He's not too attached to that voting record.
Let this stand, and we strip away what's different.
Santos is a religious Catholic, not another secular Democrat...
...who can be portrayed as hostile to heartland values.
Leo?
I worry about elevating this.
But if the charge sticks, it could kill us with values voters.
And that puts Vinick's nine-point lead in the bank.
We hit him...
...and we hit him hard.
We don't start with a negative ad.
No.
We get one ready, but our first hit on Vinick will be a media bonanza.
Why waste money on an ad?
We use a spokesman for this.
We don't elevate it to Santos' or Leo's level.
Clarify our guy's not for abortion without limits.
It's a sham.
Anyone can see from the full interview.
And then, bam, we hit Vinick with a political two-by-four.
You don't have to be happy.
You don't have to be queasy.
You don't know Santos.
This becomes full-out negative...
He's got a glass jaw?
I think we lose the war.
I think the other side is better at this and they have more to work with.
I did the Marienhoff Senate campaign.
You know those charges, he had dealings with Taiwanese businessmen?
He did.
Those were the charges.
Anyway, we ran against Barrett.
Clean as a bar of soap.
We hit him first with everything we could find.
When he hit back, the voters thought it was just an ugly campaign...
...a pox on both our houses.
You're proud of that?
I'm proud that Marienhoff defends Medicare in the Senate.
I'm proud that he votes against every reckless tax cut.
We're the blue team, and there's a real war going on.
Josh, do you want the right wing to get their judges?
No.
Then stop being so queasy.
We hit Vinick for hypocrisy, for saying he's pro-choice...
...and letting anti-choice ideologues pick his judiciary and run lying ads.
I'll phone the language in.
Don't use our regular spokesman.
Find a woman.
You know, a 40-something soccer mom.
What about debate negotiations?
I'm meeting with Bruno this afternoon.
We're still on makeup and deli trays.
There's gonna be debates.
Vinick doesn't want to incur the wrath of The New York Times.
We have to stop being so eager.
We have to change our body language.
Let them chase us.
I've had nine meetings with Bruno on this.
He knows how I think.
He doesn't know me. "
No" on banning partial-birth abortions.
Is that a vote you want...
Have you seen this abortion ad?
It's all over cable news.
They're predicting a negative ad blitz by Friday.
I'm amazed it took them this long to get started.
Someone gave the president this adage: "The best place to store surplus food is in someone else's stomach."
Use it in this briefing.
We're announcing 50 employers have joined the New Markets initiative.
Which would you have when you're hungry, rotten food or...?
No, I get it.
It's just, a second briefing?
You saw the wires.
They counted the questions I was asked.
I didn't answer one of them.
You thought we'd get good coverage?
Forty-seven, a career high.
Let them punch themselves out.
You're talking to the punching bag.
My job's to look like I'm not ignorant.
Counsel won't even brief me on Toby's firing.
I asked them not to.
Don't you want me to have credibility?
Your ignorance is your credibility.
Your constituents aren't in that room, they're in distressed urban areas.
You brief at 4.
0 for 47.
I'm the Jamaican bobsledding team. "
Securing America's future."
"Securing," not "strengthening."
He's not a personal trainer.
Is that statement all set?
All set.
Got a woman to read the thing?
Right out of central casting.
No nose rings, brow piercings?
Trust me, this gal's a cold glass of milk.
She was working for the Midwest coordinated campaign.
Lou asked for Vinick's Senate flip-flops.
Yeah.
Are we about to run our very first...?
They're starting.
Campaign in Washington...
...
for their response to the independent ad attacking Matthew...
Tell him no, we're not doing the Al Smith Dinner.
Not in the middle of all this.
Good afternoon.
It is wrong and misleading to imply through edited footage...
...
that Congressman Santos is for abortion...
This is Otto.
That's Donna.
Who?
The dairy queen, Donna Moss.
What happened to our 40-something soccer mom?
Lou hired her last week to do Midwest press.
Looks too young, huh?
The Women's Alliance for Choice called.
They want a meeting.
We were talking about an endorsement event.
Have Leo do it.
I don't want Santos meeting with them till this abortion stuff cools.
And the American people need to know, which is the real Arnold Vinick?
The one who supports a woman 's right to choose...
...
and votes accordingly, or the one whose party has a pro-life platform...
Yes, they're ready to go.
She's hitting me from the left and right.
We have to wait until we see what Santos runs.
Telling the right I'm pro-abortion, the left I'm a captive of religious nuts.
The RNC upped their ad buy another 750 points.
Every battleground market.
And since I don't have a uterus like Tippi Hedren here...
...I'm not qualified to talk about it.
All the networks are running pieces on the Santos abortion ad tonight.
I'm gonna go out there and call it trash and a lie.
I don't like it either, but Hodder's not wrong.
Nothing in that ad's inaccurate.
Santos couldn't have written a better ad.
They're whacking me for playing both sides.
That 527's raised a quarter of a million off last night's airings alone.
After tonight, it's gonna be 20 times that much.
This is energizing the very people...
...we were afraid were gonna stay home in November.
You think I should stand by it.
No.
You should scrub your Michigan swing...
...go to the Al Smith Dinner, talk about your opposition to partial-birth abortion.
And the minute that Santos runs his first negative ad, we run a hundred of ours.
Years I've been looking forward to this campaign.
I never imagined it would look like this.
It'll look better after you win.
Mr.
Bailey.
Will!
Good afternoon.
We're handing out lists of private-sector commitments...
...to the president's New Markets initiative.
It shows the business community is deeply engaged...
...in job creation for poor communities.
As the Eskimos said, if you store your food in somebody else's stomach...
...well, then you'd better hope it doesn't need refrigeration.
Will!
Yes?
Has the president been asked to testify in the investigation?
That's a matter for Counsel.
Will he assert privilege?
I'll refer you to this morning's briefing.
You said you'd get back to us on that.
See, now you're cheating.
You didn't need to be referred.
Does the president consider Mr.
Babish's conversations with Mr.
Ziegler privileged?
I'm not getting into that.
Isn't Mr.
Babish also a witness?
Have to check with him.
You've been in this job four days.
When are you gonna sit down with Counsel and get us some answers?
I'm not.
Mr.
Bailey, right here.
Will, right here.
I'll take one from you.
The attack ad, funded by a group of Vinick and RNC donors...
...
has sparked what many believe was inevitable this presidential year: A volley of negative charges...
...
with independent Democratic groups already saying they'll respond in kind.
Taking a look at your money, the dollar fell against the euro this week...
Who are you?
Louise Thornton.
Josh couldn't make it.
Stuck in Michigan?
Santos benched him, sent me.
We have magazines outside if you get bored with those.
Any good ones?
Are we going to, how shall I say...
...negotiate?
No.
This may look like your dentist's waiting room.
It's a negotiating session for presidential debates.
You want as few debates as possible...
...but don't wanna tick off the debate commission or the opinion elites, right?
And I think Vinick could kick Santos' abortion-loving ass all over the stage.
Game over.
Check, please.
And?
And I'm your best buddy on this.
No debates.
You can blame me.
Like a magazine?
A half-hour of this...
...and I can tell the congressman it didn't work out.
You understand why I'm taking this meeting instead of Santos.
He can't be seen with the Women's Alliance for Choice.
Not while he's trying to limit abortion.
He's not trying to limit abortion.
Not what his spokeswoman said.
It's rhetorical positioning.
President Bartlet did it too.
President Bartlet never ran against a pro-choice Republican.
We haven't endorsed a candidate yet.
I know.
We have to push that back a bit.
See, we need moderate votes to chip into Vinick's lead.
We don't wanna make Santos the baby-killing candidate.
Excuse my expression...
We're thinking of endorsing Vinick.
Becca...
...you're not talking to some punk congressional staffer.
He's pro-choice and probably gonna win.
You can't honestly believe...
How you gonna close a nine-point gap?
You'll be lucky if you get one debate.
The way Santos has been begging, Vinick's expectations are so low...
...he'll just have to avoid tripping over the podium.
We're the pro-choice party.
Don't sound like it.
Vinick won't criticize his party on this.
Partial-birth, parental notification.
He's bowing to the far-right fringes.
But if he wins, they really will be the fringes, won't they?
Then both parties will be where the country is: Pro-choice, down the line.
If you help a Republican get elected, you'll destroy...
Think how many more Republicans...
...would have the courage to stand up for a woman's right to choose.
Thank you.
Virginia's steel sector is a model for the country.
You should be proud.
Thank you.
The debate negotiations seem to be off. "
Seem to be"?
The Santos campaign blew them up.
It's a ploy.
Better be.
They need debates 10 times more than us.
We can wait it out.
That's the bad news.
Let's have the good news.
The Women's Alliance for Choice wants an endorsement meeting.
You're kidding.
The heart of the Democratic base wants to support you.
Santos would be doomed.
We'd win 53 states, couple of desert islands.
How do we know this isn't a setup?
We meet them and find out.
I don't know.
You know, if a pro-choice group gets within 53 feet of me...
...the Republican Party would go crazy.
You're a pro-choice candidate.
They're the pro-choice lobby.
This isn't a typical election.
How can they endorse a Republican...
...who's against partial-birth abortion, who's for parental notification?
This could be Santos screwing me.
I know these people.
I can keep this meeting quiet.
No.
The RNC has five negative ads ready...
...that would blow Santos out of the water.
But it's gonna harden his support on the left.
It's gonna make us more dependent on the right.
Yeah, we still win, but we win dirty.
Wouldn't you rather outflank him?
If this becomes a press story...
...that I'm courting not just the center but the organized left...
...I'd be kissing off a quarter of the Republican base.
I can't win without my own party.
We're going to New York tomorrow.
I'm speaking at the Al Smith Dinner.
Tell Sheila I need speech language on partial-birth abortion.
Something that'll mollify the right.
Arnold Vinick promises he'll cut taxes.
Then why do economists say that would break his pledge to balance the budget?
He says he's pro-choice.
Then why do news reports say...
...
he told the far right he'd pick anti-choice judges?
Arnold Vinick.
If he's on both sides, how can he be on your side?
Hey.
You hired Donna Moss?
No, I picked her off the street and put her on national television.
She was the absolute wrong person for that hit on Vinick.
Didn't we say 40-something with kids?
We said a woman, and she was great.
She worked for Russell in the primary.
So did half the available Democratic talent.
She worked for me before that.
That is a strike against her.
I can see why you're concerned.
The debate negotiations are off.
They're off?
We walked away.
I gave it to the Times and Journal.
Hope this works.
Vinick can live without debates.
We don't get them, we're toast.
This is exactly what we need.
Proof we're willing to walk away.
If we're lucky, the Times will call us a roadblock.
Donna Moss gave dozens of bad quotes about Santos in the primary.
You may run communications, but I'm campaign manager.
I sign off on any new spokesperson.
The Women's Alliance For Choice is thinking of endorsing Vinick.
Okay, very bad news.
Oh, yeah.
Is it public?
Not yet.
Maybe it hurts Vinick with the right.
Great.
Vinick loses the right, keeps middle and left.
The only way for us to get votes...
...is plastering the Ten Commandments all over our campaign bus.
One-point-five million for naturally chilled water transportation?
What's next, an earmark for stuffed olives?
Back into the breach.
Down the hall, left at The Crucible.
Wanna offer any tips?
Follow your instincts.
My instincts say to curl up in a ball in my office.
Then follow your job description.
Down the hall, left at the...
So I tell Legislative Affairs...?
The president's not signing the bill.
Not when it looks like happy hour at the Algonquin.
Get some of these earmarks out of it.
I am pleased to announce that as part of our upcoming New Markets tour...
...President Bartlet will visit the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation...
...home of the Oglala Sioux Nation, to talk about the importance...
...of investing in Native American communities.
I'll dodge your questions now.
When was the last time a sitting president visited an Indian reservation?
That would be Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1936.
Next question.
Did you talk to Joey Lucas?
She's got a version of our spot without the monster-chiller theater music.
Yeah, come with me.
Where are we going?
The bedroom off the staff room.
I don't wanna seem ungracious, we've all been under a lot of pressure.
It's just that...
Hi.
Hi.
I don't know what the problem is, but she's great on TV.
I don't care who she worked for in the primaries.
Right now, it's all hands on deck, so work it out.
What on-the-record experience do you have?
A job interview?
I'm campaign manager.
I hire staff, it involves an interview.
Experience?
Six hours ago, televised press conference, Santos-McGarry campaign.
References?
Josh Lyman, campaign manager.
Try the main switchboard.
He'd tell you campaigns demand loyalty.
You don't work for the other guy.
The party's front-runner.
You knew I wasn't supporting him.
Me, your mentor in professional politics.
The guy who kept me in grunt-level servitude...
...because I knew he liked burgers burned.
I gave you a career.
As a short-order cook.
I'm still waiting for the spatula...
Hope you're getting along.
It just broke.
Women's Alliance wants to meet Vinick.
I need you to spin it.
Bad for him, fine for us.
How's that even possible?
Bad for us, worse for him, whatever.
How's the congressman?
He's been better.
The Women's Alliance?
And two more things.
Vinick changed his schedule.
He's speaking at the Al Smith Dinner.
We've got 50 reporters wondering if we're doing the same.
Why the hell would Vinick do the Smith Dinner?
Because an in-your-face pro-choice speech could seal the endorsement.
What was the second thing?
The bishop from Camden, New Jersey, issued a statement.
If Santos comes to Mass in Camden, he'll deny him Communion.
His views on abortion have placed him in a state of grave sin.
How's that play with values voters?
Don't be spooked by the Times.
Staff was right to blow up the negotiations.
A bad editorial never killed anyone.
Not that I won't hear about it at this DCCC dinner.
You heard about the diocese of Camden?
You don't go to Mass in Camden.
Lou and Joey are almost done with our first negative ad.
I know you wanted a more substantive campaign.
That's not what bothers me about it.
What then?
Negative ads work.
The more we run them, the more people believe the worst about us.
So we pummel each other to the ground.
Whoever crawls across the finish line wins.
Yeah.
How do I get back the Women's Alliance?
Come to New York tomorrow and meet with them.
Tell them you're taking the stage at the Al Smith Dinner...
...and defending a woman's right to choose.
And be ready for me to be the only guy clapping.
So I'm the abortion-without-limits guy?
We're the pro-choice party.
You gotta dance with the one who brung you.
Vinick just landed in New York too.
No intelligence on what he's saying at the dinner.
What hit did we take in last night's poll?
Four points on "shares values."
Vinick took a bigger hit.
Fifty-nine percent think he should denounce the ad.
Swing voters think he's a typical Republican.
They won't when he's endorsed by a pro-choice group.
We need a way to spin it if they endorse Vinick.
It would be a political earthquake.
From a group that's on our side.
They're not on our side.
They're on their own side.
They're an interest group jockeying for influence.
Think their supporters vote Republican no matter what the leadership says?
Poll that.
I bet 85 percent of them are dyed-in-the-sackcloth Santos supporters.
Phone Joey with that for tomorrow's poll.
I'm on it.
Talk to Treasury about that debt-relief report.
The president's interested in an event on it.
Sure.
He thinks agency response...
...to New Markets has been thin.
You should crack a few subcabinet heads.
Did you see today's briefing?
Yeah.
We need a better answer on the energy bill.
DOE's been dickering around.
Right.
Set up a call with McGinn at Treasury.
And I need a fresh list of those agency commitments.
Will Bailey.
Segal, the pressure's all mine.
On the record?
I'd say...
...it's something either administration would have to love.
It's pro-business.
It's anti-poverty.
Investigation's ongoing.
I really can't comment.
Segal?
Nope, keep talking.
I'm not going anywhere.
That ad's pretty tough.
We can't afford to take our foot off the gas.
Vinick will hit back.
He's probably already bought airtime.
He has.
We can do the meeting with the Women's Alliance for Choice in hold.
You don't have to be on-stage for half an hour.
We'll talk about our ad buy after dinner.
We'll see you in there, congressman.
I hope you're gonna give a tough speech on partial-birth abortion tonight.
These folks need to hear it.
This story about the Women's Alliance wanting to endorse you, it's a disaster.
Because I'd get more votes for a position I happen to hold?
You can't let this Communion thing bother you.
Most Catholics are pro-choice.
How do bishops expect politicians to do...
...what they can't even do in their own church?
The Bible's silent on the issue.
Not one word that says it's the destruction of a human life.
It is.
You're pro-life?
I believe life begins at conception.
Well, ain't that a kick in the pulpit.
Politics is about practicality.
Not if you think abortion is murder.
Whether you do or not, Roe v.
Wade has been law of the land for decades.
Most of the country's not ready to change that.
Neither am I.
Well, that's not the party's position.
I joined this party because liberals were the ones...
...who wanted something from the government.
We just wanted government to leave us alone.
Especially when there's no consensus otherwise.
I'm trying to lead the majority who agrees on that.
Not the minority who wants to enact their version of Leviticus into law.
We're a big tent, Arnie.
Room enough for all.
You're gonna denounce that ad tonight.
I'm not responsible for making you more palatable with the abortion lobby.
Denounce that ad, or I'll do it in my speech...
...in front of two dozen bishops and a tent full of Catholic charities.
Leo tells me you might defend the right to choose tonight.
Proudly, aggressively.
This would be a gutsy place to do it.
We're the pro-choice ticket.
I still believe that the Women's Alliance...
...needs to encourage pro-choice Republicans.
The Democratic Party needs to, as well.
We need to make clear that we're not hostile to people who are anti-abortion. "
Pro-choice" means anyone can do what they want.
Yeah, but it shouldn't mean we're proud of whatever they choose.
Maybe this chest-beating is the reason the right can get away with that ad.
The reason why a leader of my church can exile me...
...for not trying to impose my religion on the country.
And we're surprised people out there think we're for unlimited abortion?
That there are voters who are pro-choice that think that we're too extreme?
Political posturing aside, precisely what limits are you for?
You support abortion to choose a baby's sex?
Of course not.
After an IQ test?
No.
You support limits on abortion yourself.
Isn't it all a matter of degrees after that?
Who are you, who are any of us...
...to say where someone should draw the line for themselves?
What are you saying tonight?
That abortion's a tragedy.
That it should be legal.
It should be safe.
It should be a whole lot rarer than it is now.
You have a problem with that...
...you can endorse whoever you want.
Ask him if he can hold off until the morning.
We're on our way into the banquet right now.
I thank our very special dais guests...
I'll grab you after the intro.
...at this evening's annual Alfred E.
Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner.
I'm delighted to introduce the Honorable Leo McGarry...
...and the Honorable Ray Sullivan.
Two highly distinguished public servants...
...whose extraordinary vision and leadership...
...will guide this country for years to come.
Gentlemen, thank you for joining us here this evening.
We're pleased to