Hartsfield's Landing

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From NBC:
The President (Martin Sheen) engages both Sam (Rob Lowe) and Toby (Richard Schiff) in intricate chess matches that underscore the wily game of brinkmanship Bartlet is playing with the Chinese who threaten to turn their war games in the Taiwan Strait into the real thing if Taiwan begins test-firing their new U.S. Patriot defense missiles. Meanwhile, Josh (Bradley Whitford) is edgy about every vote out of the 42 cast in a remote New Hampshire burg that are counted immediately and always predict the winner of the day's crucial state primary. Elsewhere, a mischievous C.J. (Allison Janney) tries to upset Charlie (Dulé Hill) by not accounting for her copy of the President's top-secret daily schedule -- prompting a war of mischievous games and tricks.


This is a classic episode

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This was one of the episodes submitted to the Emmy Awards for the consideration of Outstanding Drama Series. Contributed to another win for The West Wing.


"Toby Ziegler--Bartlet's communications director, and the conscience of Sorkin's White House--"is going to continue his conversation with the President, 'Your father hated your guts because you were smarter than he was. In fact, he hit you because of it, and as a result you are scared to get people mad at you with your brains. You don't want to lose as the smartest kid in class who's running against an everyman. But I'm telling you, be the smartest kid in your class. Be the reason why your father hated you. Make this an election about smart and stupid, about engaged and not, qualified and not.'" - Aaron Sorkin

"WEST WING WATCH: SNOOKERED BY BUSH"
By Tad Friend
March 4, 2002
The New Yorker

"I won't pretend that I don't know who Bush is," says [Aaron] Sorkin, "but I was interested in writing about a demonization of intellect. Which didn't start with Bush-Gore -- it didn't even start with Eisenhower-Stevenson. It's peculiarly American: Being tagged as the smartest kid in your class turns into both a sense of arrogance and a sense of weakness -- that an 'egghead' [can't] see us through a world war."

"How the 'West' Was Undone"
By Ken Tucker
November 8, 2002
Entertainment Weekly

[Lemon Lyman]

One of my fav epsiodes - esp the bits with Donna and Josh trying to get the votes. And Josh being in touch with Mackie's daughter....