20 Hours In L.A.

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From NBC:
President Bartlet (Martin Sheen) and several of his staff head to Los Angeles for a whirlwind visit that is topped off by a star-studded fundraiser hosted by a wealthy film honcho, Ted Marcus (Bob Balaban) who threatens to cancel the bash unless Bartlet announces his opposition to a congressional bill banning gays in the military. Back in Washington, Leo (John Spencer) tries to convince a stubborn Vice President Hoynes (Tim Matheson) to break the Senate voting deadlock over an ethanol tax credit favored by the White House. Elsewhere, Josh (Bradley Whitford) learns that feisty campaign manager Joey Lucas (Marlee Matlin) is staying in his Los Angeles hotel and he eagerly anticipates seeing her again. The President takes a meeting where he is warned about not supporting an amendment banning flag-burning and checks up on Secret Service security for his daughter Zoey (Elisabeth Moss) -- and is unafraid to close down a restaurant where she's lunching.

[Joey Lucas]

From The Official Companion:
The presidency isn’t just fun and games, and Bartlet is well aware of this as he stares into the predawn sky out side his limo window. The President is taking a trip to L.A., leaving Washington at 3 AM and returning that night after the Hollywood fund-raiser. Leo encourages Bartlet to stay over, but the President insists on coming straight back. There’s a slew of important business at hand: most notably, the vote on the ethanol tax credit in the Senate is deadlocked fifty-fifty. But the plane ride isn’t without it’s own excitement; Bartlet’s meeting Zoey’s new Secret Service agent onboard Air Force One.

Already clambering in the confines of the plane, Josh and Toby are clearly unhappy the President is taking a meeting in L.A. with a pollster named Al Kiefer. Josh is distracted from the bad news when he gets the next round: a bill on gays in the military is going to be introduced that morning. Even if the bill doesn’t go anywhere, Ted Marcus, the host of the fund-raiser, will hear about it and that might be a problem.

Ron Butterfield introduces the President to Zoey’s new shadow, Special Agent Gina Toscano (Jorja Fox). Bartlet warily asks if she’s aware of the letters about Charlie and Zoey. Gina assures him she knows what she’s looking for in a crowd. Bartlet insists that Zoey be comfortable as a college student, it’s not Gina’s job to telling him if Zoey’s cutting English Lit, or dying her hair neon colours. Gina thanks him and starts to exit. Bartlet retracts his earlier statement, he does want to know if she’s cutting class, but Gina says, “No deal.” Bartlet waves her off and settles back for the long plane ride.

Leo’s back in the West Wing minding the farm, much to the annoyance of Margaret, who desperately wanted a free ride to California. The ethanol vote is stuck fast at fifty-fifty and Leo wants it to pass. In a strategic re-election mindset, Leo knows that ethanol accounts for 20% of Iowa’s corn crop and created 16,000 jobs. They can guarantee they win the vote, but it means having the vice president to break the tie.

C.J. rehearses the jam-packed California schedule with the press. There’s a meeting with civic leaders in Orange County to discuss a constitutional ban on flag burning, a town hall meeting on school vouchers, and the Hollywood fund-raiser at night. When they arrive at the hotel, Josh picks up his messages and finds Joey Lucas called. She just wanted to let him know she’ll be at the fund-raiser. Donna seizes the opportunity to tease her boss about his secret crush on Joey, he should call her back.

DONNA: Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Josh. You know what that means? It means you should take this time to gather rosebuds, ‘cause later on you might not be able to.

But Josh has to deal with Ted Marcus (Bob Balaban) first. He goes to Marcus’s mansion to meet the studio chairman, who is clearly a major player. Caterers and florists are consumed by preparations for the party. Filtering out the chaos around him, Marcus gets right to his point: he wants to discuss Cameron’s House Resolution 973 banning gays in the military. Josh assures him the bill’s a joke, it’s not going anywhere. Sensing Josh’s impatience, Ted Marcus says he’s going to raise $2.5 million dollars for the Democrats and he wants Josh to be a little more attentive. Right then and there Marcus cancels the party and tells the workers to load up the trucks. Josh sees a disaster looming, and reiterates that even if the bill passed, Bartlet would never sign it. Fantabulous, Marcus says, he will put the event back on if the President declares that publicly. Josh knows that’s not going to happen.

MARCUS: Then we have ourselves a problem. (pause) Don’t screw around with me, Josh. I’ve been President a lot longer than he has.

Back in D.C., Leo tells Hoynes that the President would like him to break the tie. Hoynes protests. “You gotta get off me the hook, Leo.” He spent eight years in the Senate voting against this tax credit, which has proven itself to accomplish nothing in regard to reducing U.S. dependency on foreign oil. But Hoynes’s main problem is that the Republicans’ll make him eat that tie-breaking vote for dinner when his time comes.

In Los Angeles, Josh and Toby ponder the Marcus conundrum. Toby points out that if Marcus carried out his threat, it would only lend credibility to Cameron’s bill. And the President would look good standing up to Marcus. As a bargaining chip, they want to offer Marcus tem minutes alone with the President at the party. While his staff debates the logistics of the deal, Bartlet listens to the complaints about symbolic desecration and the need to protect the flag. He’s wondering if there’s suddenly an emergency-level epidemic of flag burning that he doesn’t know about. No, says Toby, so why even meet with Al Kiefer? Bartlet believes he has nothing to fear from Kiefer, and announces that they are all proceeding to lunch at the restaurant where Zoey planned to eat.

The restaurant is cleared out and sealed for the President. The staff and Al Kiefer (John de Lancie) sit at one table while Bartlet eats alone with his daughter, and the Secret Service stands by as discreetly as possible. Zoey complains her father is cramping her style. With him around, she says, her protection quadruples. Sensing the approach of a conversation he’s not ready to have, the President blows her off with a joke. At the other table, Kiefer is saying Bartlet could sew up re-election by leading the charge for a flag burning amendment. White men, “pool and patio types,” think Bartlet’s smart and has vision but that he’s a wimp in the face of real issues. They voted against Bartlet by twenty points, but they could be his for the taking if he just stepped up against flag burning. The amendment will pass someday, why not take advantage of it? Toby hates this kind of politics.

KIEFER: Toby, you’re smiling.
TOBY: I just figured out who you are.
KIEFER: (beat) He’s gonna say Satan.
TOBY: No, you’re the guy who runs into the 7-Eleven to get Satan a pack of cigarettes.

On the way out of the restaurant, Bartlet seems intrigued by Kiefer’s polling analysis. Gina is concentrating on the big crowd behind the police barricades, and can’t help but notice a couple of rowdy fifteen-year-olds she’s not wild about. She tells Zoey to walk on the other side of her and casually makes sure the young men catch a glimpse of her .44 Magnum. She puts Zoey in her sedan, shuts the door, and slaps the roof.

Marcus’s party proceeds without any hitches. It’s glamorous, packed with famous Hollywood faces. Toby is cranky and would rather be pretty much anywhere else. A man introduces himself as head of a new project development at Paragon. He wants to meet C.J.

MARK MILLER: I was wondering if my money buys me a few words alone with you.
C.J. (to Miller) Sure.
TOBY: Throw in some chocolate and a pair of nylons, you’ll get a lot more than that . . .
C.J. gets up to follow Miller, giving TOBY a smack in the head as she does.
TOBY: I’ll be at the bar drinking a lot if anybody wants me.
C.J.: Nobody will.

Her Romeo’s not all that he’s cracked up to be, and C.J. grabs Sam to get away from him after he offers her a development deal. He offered Sam one too. Joey Lucas sidles up to Josh, and she looks like a million bucks. Sparks are flying when Toby calls Josh away. Josh makes Joey promise not to leave.

In Washington, Leo’s wishing he was at a glamorous Hollywood gala. Instead, he’s in the middle of a very frank discussion with Hoynes. As an aside from the political melange of the tax credit, Leo tells the vice president he knows there’s friction between him and Leo’s staff. He says they respect him, but they don’t trust him, and neither does the President. Leo says he’s the one who persuaded Bartlet to put Hoynes on the ticket, so he’s got a lot on the line.

HOYNES: Leo . . . . one of these days you’re gonna have to allow for the possibility that my motives are not always sinister. You and your staff are remarkably smug. And frankly, so is the President. And the fact that you think I give a damn that there’s friction between us is certainly proof enough of that. (pause) I need time to think about this.
LEO: (pause) John, you will not be able to set foot in the West Wing. You will not be on the ticket in three years.
HOYNES: Leo, I think you guys set me up.
LEO: You think the President of the United States can just arrange for a fifty-fifty tie in the Senate?
HOYNES: I think the President of the United States can do pretty much whatever he wants.

Leo shares this enlightening discussion with Bartlet, who asserts he’s running out of reasons not to fire Hoynes. Leo points out that the Constitution may stand in the way of that. Then he tells Bartlet that Hoynes is right about the tax credit. Sam, listening in, agrees. He says it’s a giveaway to the special interests, it subsidizes one fuel over another and distorts the market. Sam says he put three guys in a headlock to vote yes. He could release them, tank the vote, and take Hoynes off the hook. Bartlet agrees, they’ll dump the vote.

[Joey Lucas]

From The Official Companion (cont.):
At the party, C.J. is telling Jay Leno the President appreciates his laying off Leo for the past few months. Leno wonders if the President would be willing to ride his bicycle into a tree again as a gesture of gratitude. Josh has relocated Joey, and tells her they met a pollster who told them the President would get re-elected of he proposed a flag-burning amendment. Joey is on the ball in the polling world, and tells Josh Kiefer asked the wrong question. Eighty percent of people favoured the amendment but only 37% said it was important to them and only 12% said it would swing their vote. Josh is captivated by this intelligent and beautiful woman, but Joey tells him she came with someone, it was good to see him again.

Ted Marcus is having his ten minutes with the President. Bartlet’s not having a good day and he’s trying to hang in there as Marcus rants about gay rights and impact of the bill. Bartlet tells Marcus he can’t publicly announce he’d veto Cameron’s bill. He’s a human starting gun – if he talks about an issue, it’s automatically on the table. Marcus relents – he knows Bartlet’s right, he just wanted to hear it for himself. It’s clear neither man has enjoyed the party. Marcus says the President looks more tired than he did a couple of months ago, and Bartlet admits he really just wants to get some sleep on the way back.

As they’re getting ready to leave the hotel, Donna chastises Josh for giving up on Joey as soon as she said she was with someone. Romance isn’t easy, especially for two government officials. Donna reminds Josh that Joey’s in the same hotel, he should go and see her before they leave. He doesn’t have much time to lose, and Josh finds himself ringing the bell of Joey’s hotel room. To his surprise, Al Kiefer comes to the door in a bathrobe. Josh is confused, says he must have got the wrong room, but Kiefer asks if he’s there for Joey, who immediately comes to the door in her matching bathrobe. Stunned, Josh thanks Joey for her help and they say an awkward good-bye.

Back on Air Force One, the lights are dimmed and everyone’s sleeping except for Bartlet, who’s sitting by himself on the phone with Hoynes. He says the problem’s taken care of. Just as they’re about to hang up, he tells Hoynes he admired how he stuck to his guns in Iowa during the campaign. He adhered to his beliefs on the ethanol tax credit, even though he knew it would be unpopular. Bartlet confesses he’s always agreed, but Hoynes was the only one to articulate it. “You had a good day today, John,” he says.

The President closes his eyes for a long moment but they open again. He gives up and stares out of the window of Air Force One.