Previously on The West Wing:
- President can 't give me the job I want. - Which one?
His.
It is with great humility that I accept your nomination...
... for president of the United States.
We start working to beat this guy right now.
Something's wrong with the International Space Station.
Are we weaponizing space?
It's a federal crime to divulge classified information.
The FBI thinks it came from inside the West Wing. They have a theory.
One you're not gonna like.
- Josh wants me to run for president. - Of the United States?
I'm in, if you're in with me.
- So is he gonna step aside? - I think so.
We are one nail in the coffin away from dead.
- You have to quit, congressman. - Santos! Santos! Santos!
Vote for the person who shares your ideals, your hopes, your dreams.
- We still gotta line up a VP. - So who is it?
You.
Okay. Let's go win this thing.
- Welcome. - Nice to see you, sir.
Look at you. Look at that tan.
I was gonna ask you to come up to the farm...
...but we should come to you. - Santa Monica's your kind of town.
- Really? - Not really, no.
- Abbey wants a picture of the baby. - We e-mailed you one.
- Something she can tape to the fridge. - I'll see what I can dig up.
- Glad you could make it. - Thank you for the invitation, sir.
- How's Columbia? - Not a bad place to spend some time.
I read your book.
- Gorgeous prose. - Thank you.
- Did you read her book? - Load of hogwash.
- Nice job in Jakarta. - Thank you.
Just trying to get them talking. Don't anyone hold your breath.
- Congressman. - Mr. President.
- Ways and Means? - Backbencher.
I wait another 32 years, I got a shot at chairman.
- All set with your speech? - I think so.
Meandering in the middle.
- Need any help, sir? - No, thank you. I'll be fine.
- Sir, can we get you to...? - There he is.
The president's here.
We love you.
How are you? It's good to see you. Thank you. Thank you.
Good to see you. Thank you so much. Thank you.
- Welcome back. - Look at that. We like to see that.
- Is it out yet? - Not yet. What did I miss?
Rally in Columbus was fantastic. Crowds were going wild.
Q & A in Dayton got a little sticky talking about the ticket.
- About Leo? - The congressman was pretty irritated.
It'll pass. We want copies of these, like 500.
- How's headquarters? - It exists, which is a start. What else?
That's it.
I've been away from you for a whole day. You got nothing?
Same speech 27 times, dude.
Go ahead on two.
Okay, 10 minutes of grip and grin, followed by the speech...
...followed by a stop in Bakersville.
What about the call with the policy team?
They need you in Bakersville instead. Let's remember to call him Santos.
- The candidate? - That's what he calls himself.
- What did I call him? - "Santos," with an "ah," not an "a."
- "Ah" is not more correct? - In Mexico.
- I say "ah"? - Leo, you're inconsistent.
We don't people to think you're iffy on your running mate's name.
Certainly not.
Now I'm confused. Which is it?
- It's not out yet. - Did I ask?
- No, but you wanted to. - You wouldn't tell me...
...because I'm about to go on-stage and you feel you have to manage my mood...
...which you don't. - I left a great job...
...to come work for this campaign. - I've been at this a while.
I don't need babysitting.
You certainly do. Just because you've trained a Preakness jockey...
...doesn't mean you know how to sit a horse.
- Is it out yet? - Not yet.
- You sure? - He checked.
- We'll get it when we get it. - Anything?
- Not yet. - I thought we'd get it an hour ago.
- We didn't. - Should we call?
This is one poll. Yes, it is a Gallup Poll.
Yes, it is our first public polling data.
It will shape our message and our strategy...
...but it will not change the fact that four days out of the convention...
...the Santos-McGarry ticket is strong and poised for victory.
Congressman's not worried about it. I'm not. Everybody should stop worrying.
Is it out yet?
No, sir, not yet.
After this, we head back to Washington where we have one day...
...at our new headquarters to sit you down with department heads...
...brief you on electoral strategy, policy direction.
Make sure we're not relitigating this stuff every day.
- That's great. - I'll be interviewing new staff.
- How many do you still need to hire? - About 90.
- Today? - There's a bathroom up there, if you...
That's not a bad idea. Excuse me.
You don't think that's micromanaging?
He went, didn't he?
Matthew Santos served his community for two terms as mayor of Houston...
...served his state for three terms in Congress...
...served his country for 12 years in the U.S. Navy.
- Marine Corps. - Twelve years in the U.S. Marine Corps.
I am proud to join this bold leader...
Are we meeting with the White House today?
- I am. I may take Leo with me. - Before or after your 600 interviews?
You don't need Leo at the White House.
I want him in the briefings so he's clear about what our direction is.
This is Chet, he's gonna seat you down front with the chancellor.
Knock them dead, honey.
Hopefully you two will have some time this afternoon.
- Get to know each other. Maybe lunch. - Who?
You and Leo.
We've got one day in D.C. You really think we should spend it on lunch?
We're talking takeout, not wine and candles. Okay, go get them, sir.
- It will be out soon, right? - You'll know the second I know.
- Congressman Matthew Santos.
Get me an advance copy of this damn poll before I chew my arm off.
Has the campaign seen this yet?
No. Gallup slipped us an advance copy. They'll publish in about an hour.
Sir, we should have Moscow any minute now.
Thank you. This ought to be fun.
How much do you plan on telling them?
I'm telling them the military space shuttle...
...whose existence we denied, will be hurtling up...
...from Vandenberg in about an hour. - Comprehensive.
Hutchinson will want you downstairs for the final go.
We set up calls with China, France, Germany, Japan.
- Everyone with a satellite. - How about the wives?
Of the astronauts? Not until we know we're gonna get them back.
Senator Weller has started his own investigation of the leak.
We're running an investigation, so is the AG. What does he think...
...Congress will find out that we won't? - He doesn't think the AG's objective.
The AG hates us, we hate him. It doesn't get more objective.
- No. - God bless. What else?
Haffley's giving us a hard sell on this education plan.
He's talking about moving on teacher incentives.
He's prepared to actually pay teachers more?
If they meet higher standards. Pay for performance.
Santos' campaign is gonna be livid. Performance pay was part of their plan.
Haffley's probably baiting us, hoping we take the issue away from Santos.
- Should we skip it? - No. We should call his bluff.
We'd steal thunder from the campaign...
...for a plan that'll die before it hits the House.
Maybe, but I'm not prepared to walk away from it yet.
Let's try and figure out if Haffley's serious.
Campaign's in town. We'll give them a heads up.
- I'll be back when you've got Moscow. - Okay.
- Thank you, Mr. President. - Thank you.
What they won 't tell you is that 5.4 million jobs were actually lost...
... in the last eight years.
- Oliver Babish. - We don't have to talk yet.
My caffeine uptake is a little logy.
An honor just to be in the White House counsel's company.
- What's your day like? - Some people talk to my assistant.
I'm about to monopolize your morning with this NASA crap.
- She should cancel things. - I've gone through this with the FBI.
- I've got my spiel down to 10 minutes. - Getting me more than that.
I was going to say White House counsel would like a moment...
...but I guess he took care of that. - Nice to see you.
- He needs you back in there already. - Margaret will call you when I'm done.
I'll wait.
We're here this afternoon because we love our country.
Wallingford hasn't called back. He's supposed to be at the Denver rally.
Call again. Remind him that Democrats looked like feuding inbreds...
...at the convention. We need their help with our party-unity strategy.
We need congressmen lined up with smiles on at every one of our events.
- Including Wallingford on-stage clapping. - We got it.
Leo McGarry, ladies and gentlemen. Let's send this guy back to the White House.
Matt Santos and Leo McGarry...
Press is here for the Q & A. Control the conversation.
If you don't like what they ask, don't accept the premise.
- You're quoting me. - I thought it was Toby.
I've rejected the premises of questions since the Hoover administration.
Mr. McGarry, are you still in AA?
- Good to see you, Christine. - When was your last meeting?
I made statements about that before. You should take a look at them.
Does your cardiologist approve?
My cardiologist has already made a statement. You should take a look.
What I'd like to talk about is what Matt Santos can do...
...to improve the public schools here in Pennsylvania and across the country.
How are you gonna handle the pace of the presidential campaign?
- Hey, is she in there? - She's with Babish. Could be a while.
- Why? - Apparently he's got a lot to talk about.
Do me a favor, call me when she gets out.
Thank you, governor. Thank you. Thank you very much.
Oh, thanks. Thank you. Thanks.
I'm getting a lot of questions about McGarry's health.
I'm gonna need a better answer than, "He's cut out red meat."
Come here a second.
- Nine points. - That's all?
We trail a tiny bit on "strong leader," but we're neck and neck on "values."
Got a lead on "cares about our needs" and "optimistic vision...
...for the country's future." We'll break this down at HQ, but, man!
Only nine points down.
Yes.
- You heard it from Nancy McNally? - I heard it from Kelwick at NASA.
He wasn't gonna blab any more than he had to...
...because it made his department look terrible. Space station's losing oxygen.
They got a $4 billion fleet, and not one is ready to leave...
...because of a retrofit he ordered. - Embarrassing.
- A little bit. - Ever notice his eyebrows?
- Kelwick's? - Very active.
- Are they? - I'm vamping.
I brought the wrong folder.
Humor me, though. Who else knew before the story went public?
NASA director of ops, NASA ISS project manager...
Yeah, who at the White House?
- You rang? - Yeah.
- C.J.'s with Babish. - Right now?
- Did you talk to him? - Yesterday.
- What did you tell him? - I said the FBI thinks there's a trail.
- A trail? - Yeah, they have a theory...
You handed C.J. Cregg to the White House counsel?
- I did nothing of the kind. - Do you have anything...
...that resembles hard evidence? - I'm not handing them C.J. Cregg.
I'll be in my office.
Forty-three on "strong leader." Six points up on "will unite the country."
This is Christmas morning in Santos-McGarry land.
- Let me see. - Check out state by state.
That's a nice shot.
My wife wants to make T-shirts out of that.
Tell her to Photoshop out the question mark.
What's this?
That's Leo's approval rating. Don't worry about it.
It's not a relevant number. Sticker shock on the part of the voters is all.
It's not like he's a drag on the ticket.
People are voting for the top of the ticket anyway.
We got plenty of time to pull his numbers up. One poll.
Yeah.
Nice building.
You know somebody named Jackie in Advance?
No.
Somebody told me there was a staffer put us 18 points down in the pool.
There's nobody in Advance named Jackie?
Not anymore there's not.
The office is still mostly in boxes.
We've only hired half the staff so far, but it's a start.
As long as you got a couple people to get started.
That I think we got.
Welcome to the mother ship.
Two o'clock Michigan Advance meeting has been pushed to now.
Anyone on Press Advance or Site Advance...
...we're moving to the puke-green room. Joe Kaplan and Rob Sewell's team...
- Find Meredith, tell her we're moving. - Edie.
Josh. Oh, my God, the congressman.
Oh, thank you. Thank you. Stop.
Thank you all.
That's enough! Back to work! Come on in.
- Lord almighty. - This is Edith Ortega.
Deputy campaign manager for strategic planning. What I'm not handling, she is.
- Pleasure. - Thrilled to be onboard.
Julian Mirada, deputy policy director. I'll take credit for what he does.
Ralph Lee, veterans coordinator. Steve Lacey...
...our African-American steering committee chair. Mary DiMartino...
...Women for Santos. John Vega, Latino committee coordinator.
It's kind of minority row there now that I think about it.
Angie. Angie Worister's our blog master.
- Hey, Angie. - Angie's assistant, Craig, and his crew.
They're making a documentary on Craig. I'm not entirely clear why. Smile.
Craig's doing a great job. We're proud of him.
Very proud.
Mrs. Santos, we need to get you to Georgetown for your speech.
- Right. - See you tonight.
- I gotta hit Virginia. See you in Denver. - Good thing I carry a picture.
- Call the kids before 7. - Yeah.
My office is over there. You can drop your stuff.
- Where's mine? - You don't have an office.
- I don't have an office? - You'll never be here again.
Congressman, these are for you. Josh, Gregory Ward, he's interviewing...
...for Midwest regional political director. Dana Sharpey's after that.
Congressman, if you need to use Josh's office, Stan Pickett needs you right now.
- He's a deputy communication director. - Send him in.
Wallingford can't do the Denver rally. He's going to be in Washington.
You explain how integral the little turd is to our party-unity strategy?
- I did. Hammond wasn't free either. - Then get someone else...
...from the Colorado Congressional Delegation.
- Limited work schedule. It's a hard sell.
No doubt about it. But Santos knew what he was getting.
You don 't pick Leo McGarry as a running mate with all that baggage...
... because you want to, it's because you have to.
Santos needs that heft and foreign-policy savvy...
... which he certainly doesn't 't have himself.
- What was I...? - Kate Harper.
Yes. She briefed me because she was in sessions with NASA and DOD.
- Do you like her? - Sure.
- She's an achiever. - Young for the job, but she's earned it.
- Moving up. - Nancy McNally trusts her quite a lot.
- Do you? - Sure.
So she was your go-to gal with questions or anything else?
- For the most part. - Well, what about the other part?
No, she was really it.
You consult with anyone else before you briefed the president?
I... No. I mean, I had a conversation with Leo McGarry...
...about some of the technical elements that were put in place.
I spoke to Toby Ziegler about it and I had Hutchinson's deputy brief me...
That's a bunch of people. Kate Harper didn't have all the information?
No, I'm sure she did.
Think she shared it with Greg Brock?
- She's running the investigation. - It wasn't my idea.
- Next time we'll check with you. - You didn't wanna talk to her.
- It's not that I didn't want to. - You went to Leo and Toby.
So let's go back to the earlier question.
Do you trust her?
Jennifer Howard, interviewing for director for health care. Don needs you.
Give me five minutes. I just did 12 interviews.
You're eight behind. Let Chuck do some.
- No. - Mr. McGarry just got in.
Leo's here?
- Welcome to our happy home. - Hi, kid.
We need to sit with your health-care guy.
- This Medicaid-reform thing is off. - We'll look at it.
- When are we at the White House? - Sit it out. Give you time here.
I'll keep my mouth shut. Be nice to just say hello.
We gotta make it quick. Make sure you don't miss any policy briefings.
Sir, can you take a quick look? We've made some changes.
Annabeth, these are his clips as of about a half an hour ago.
- Did you see these yet? - Excuse me, Mr. McGarry.
- Can I grab you for a moment? - Sure. Hey, are those clips?
Bram needs you, and then we have a makeup consultant waiting.
- The base is looking a little orange. - She doesn't want me to look at clips.
- This is Special Agent Ellis Taylor. - How do you do?
Good to meet you. I know you've been meeting the detail in dribs and drabs.
It may help to get everybody together. Talk about questions you might have.
It's about protocol and procedure.
Okay. So who's on the congressman's detail, and who got stuck with me?
Oh, no, sir. This is all you.
- Congressman getting hit like this? - Not like this.
- Joey Lucas is here. - All right, tell Ronna...
...to halt the interview parade till I'm done with Joey.
- Mr. McGarry's clips? - Yeah.
You see the Wizard of Oz cartoon? Matt cowering in front of the big head?
- Of Bartlet? - He's there too.
- Who's the big head? - Leo.
Leo's the big head, Matt's in a Dorothy costume.
- Where's Bartlet? - Guy behind the curtain...
...pulling the strings.
We could put our guy in front of a camera every now and then too.
I'm working on it.
- You happy? - You tell me.
- Nine points is nothing to sneeze at. - I'm not sneezing.
- I'm ordering champagne. - Premature.
Ned? Jake? Can you get that?
Page 12.
"Shares our values" is at 40, and that's workable.
"Honest and trustworthy" is at 49, very good.
But flip the page. Ask people to describe their impressions...
...of Santos in one word, you get... - "Appealing."
Right. Followed by "charming" and "vital."
Strong, yes. But not in a defend-our-borders kind of a way.
It's more of a "hold me in your arms and stroke my hair...
...while we gaze at the fire and I run my hands over your biceps."
This is the kind of comment you really don't wanna hear coming out of Kenny.
Women love him, men wanna have a beer with him.
It's just not clear that it would occur to anybody to vote for him.
We've got to convince people that he's substantial.
- How's things with Leo? - First few days are tough.
- But the congressman's happy? - He doesn't know Leo well.
It's not like they were old friends.
Congressman's looking for you. Strategy was supposed to start.
Sorry, we got backed up.
Josh is in the market for a deputy, someone to help him out...
...if anybody's got a cousin who needs a job.
- What do we got? - Okay, the current schedule is yellow.
If you have a blue copy or a pink copy, burn it.
It is out of date and will put you in Kansas when we're in Michigan.
- Where's Leo? - Talking with Lorraine. He'll be right in.
- Maybe we should wait. - What else?
Media bookings. Obviously, we're in all the news shows.
The View and The Daily Show are also interested. We wanna go that way?
- It's a mixed bag. - Because?
If it has something to do with strong arms and fireplaces...
...you don't wanna hear it from Kenny. - He's hunky.
I would've gone with "telegenic," but if "hunky" works for you, I'll take it.
- You read the summary? - Yeah, I did. I'm "appealing."
We just wanna make sure no one mistakes that for "insubstantial."
Appealing is what they believe. Maybe we should play into it. Lock it up.
It's good news. You've got charisma. You can't teach that.
Let's just see if we can project some depth.
I could carry a copy of Proust.
Scheduling needs to make room for Q & A's.
Let everybody know he's not just a pretty face.
- Two a day? - How about one after every speech?
- That's a lot of time. - It'll be worth it.
We're talking five conversations with the press every day.
- Five? - You control the conversation.
You don't like what they ask, don't accept the premise.
Interest groups. We need to figure who we're gonna spend time meeting with.
- Leo McGarry, ladies and gentlemen. - Little mix-up with Medicaid figures.
Good to have you here. Interest groups?
- Broad-based moderate groups first. - Careful.
This isn't the primary. We gotta tack center, hard.
Arnold Vinick is moderate. Not a lot of center he doesn't have.
- We need the left flank. - Can't concede the center.
- Battle's won or lost there. - Without the base...
...I'm not gonna make it onto the field.
- He needs to meet with...? - Everybody. What else?
There's interest in Mr. McGarry's history. Do we wanna reevaluate that?
I've made statements about all of it in the past. Just refer them to those.
- I'm not sure the press is satisfied. - We could reconsider doing a mea culpa.
- Nightline? - Or 20/20.
You tell your story, cry a little, get on with it.
- Might simplify matters. - If it would work, I'd cry all afternoon.
I don't think it'll help.
- What's the Mallory situation? - My daughter Mallory?
She might enjoy joining you.
I sincerely doubt it, but I understand the press might enjoy it.
- I'll call her. - If the congressman's doing...
...five Q & A's, we need Mr. McGarry doing at least three.
- Five a day? - It's a new strategy we're testing out.
- A lot of feeding the beast. - We're gonna try it.
Not sure you wanna give the press that many shots at you.
- What else? - Would Mallory bring the baby?
Is it a photogenic baby?
Hey, not all of them are.
- How you holding up? - Fine.
A lot of flashbulbs.
You may get more out of me in a room with strategists instead of the cameras.
- It's that prizewinning face. - Your media gal's right.
The press is talking about my love for sedatives and single malt.
Well, we knew it was coming. You worry too much. That's my job.
- And you're not worried? - We're only nine points down.
White House, half an hour. You and me.
Mr. McGarry, we need to get a couple shots of you and the congressman.
It'll be better with you in this shirt. The congressman's wearing white.
Mr. McGarry?
Yeah.
Yes?
Thank you.
- Wanna order lunch? - I've got a meeting.
The Santos campaign and the West Wing need to coordinate agendas.
I'll order lunch and we'll eat when you get back.
- You're lonely, aren't you? - You miss them?
- Who? - Josh, Leo.
You guys are spread a little thin. Half your staff bleeding into the campaign.
You with the chief-of-staff job, still press-secretary business on your plate.
- Not really. - Really?
- Not at all. - So why does Greg Brock of the Times...
...appear on your call log five times a week...
...in the six months before he published his leak story?
He spend that much time with Leo McGarry?
- I really have to go now. - I'm thinking turkey club for me.
You want some kind of salad?
Annabeth camped out on your shoulder. That's something.
- Six kinds of makeup. - Yeah, she's relentless.
I worry tomorrow she's gonna braid my hair.
- Sorry. - Hey.
- Sight for sore eyes. - And you.
God, look at this. I feel like we should take a picture.
- We should've got lunch. - I'm lunching with Oliver Babish.
He has his heart set on ruining my day. Sit, sit.
- You see our numbers? - I did. How'd you pull that off?
- No idea. - Soon as you get a message calendar...
...send it. We'll be sure to back you up. - Great.
The president's planning a push on jobs. Should be a good issue.
And we're planning to steer clear of health care altogether.
- So you can have that to yourselves. - Perfect.
We're getting some movement from Congress on education.
- What kind...? - We'll get you a summary.
Class-size reduction, infrastructure money, performance incentives.
- That's the Santos plan. - He probably doesn't have the votes...
- He definitely doesn't. ...but if he's interested...
He's interested because the Vinick camp told him to.
- Could be. - Education may be the only thing...
...the public knows about Santos other than hair color.
We would be thrilled if you kept the hands off.
- Okay. - We can't bring it up in a debate...
...after Bartlet's moved on it. We'll look like idiots.
- That's unfortunate. - Okay, everybody, let's take a breath.
Haffley's extending an olive branch. I'm sure the president is just being polite.
He knows he can't get an education bill passed in his last six months.
With his approval rating, we're not rolling up rugs.
A new Democratic administration will pass a much more powerful bill.
You're nine points down. It's better than 20, but it's not what I call a win.
The only reason the speaker is opening the door at all...
...is because he thinks he may wound your campaign.
Think he'll walk in here in a year and offer it to the new president?
- Haffley's playing you. - No, actually he's screwing you...
...and for the moment, we are comfortable with that.
He's screwing the party.
He's screwing the party and using this administration to do it.
The president did not take an oath of party. He took an oath of office.
This has been great. Coordinate your message calendar with Toby.
Nice to see you both.
Is there anything else I can do for you?
- Hey. - Babish is still in your office.
Yes.
- Were you on the call with the Chinese? - A lot of yelling.
Shuttle launch is in a few minutes. You should probably be down there.
- If he has a minute, I'd like to say hi. - He's just on his way out.
I thought I heard that voice.
- I'm headed to the dungeon. Stroll? - Love to.
- I'm surprised they let you off the trail. - I ducked out to do a house call.
Coordinate policy with Toby and C.J.
Yeah, you're not a campaign manager now. You're a candidate.
- They mentioned something about that. - You having a good time?
It's quite a ride. We spoke with C.J. And Toby...
...about this education plan Haffley's putting on the table.
- You think it's going anywhere? - I'm rolling the dice.
- It screws us a little bit. - Yeah.
Maybe you back off, leave it for the new kid.
If you were chief of staff, what would you tell me?
I'd tell you when you walk out of here somebody else has to walk in.
You do what you can to make sure it's a Democrat.
- You wanna try that again? - You gotta think about the future.
If you were my chief of staff?
- Yeah. - Yeah, that's what I thought.
- Mr. McGarry. - Leo!
Mr. McGarry, are you finding the campaign trail exhausting?
Invigorating, Kevin. Thanks.
Is Haffley floating an education initiative with the White House?
I don't know what's going on in the speaker's office.
But I can tell you Matt Santos has the most practical approach...
...to improve teacher quality we've seen in a long time.
- Similar to Haffley's plan? - The Santos plan is a comprehensive...
Why is the president working with Haffley?
Because the Constitution empowers the president to sign bills into law...
...and doesn't empower candidates to do anything.
Santos thinks he's powerless to effect change?
- Why did Santos...? - Thanks, folks. It's been a real pleasure.
Leo.
I accepted the premise of the question, didn't I?
You sure did.
I met with Lily Schultz, who we're hiring...
...and Dave Blumberg, who we're not. Tell Isabel.
No one from the Colorado delegation will do the Denver rally.
- No one? - They're all in D.C. This weekend.
Congressmen don't stay in D.C. They go to their districts to make nice with...
Son of a bitch.
Get Wallingford's chief of staff on the phone now.
Son of a bitch!
- Little hiccup. - What?
Leo suggested to the press the reason the president's moving on education...
...is because the congressman's generally powerless.
- Annabeth... - Momentary lapse of reason.
We should probably get in front of it. Good afternoon, sir. He feels awful.
- What was that? - Little stumble. Bram!
Kendra, Wallingford's office, line three.
Congressman's gonna say he's excited the White House is making inroads...
...with the speaker on education. Have Tricia draft a release.
The congressman doesn't like that idea much.
A close-your-eyes- and-think-of-England moment.
Josh, Sandy's waiting for comments on this.
- Leo? - Let's not worry about that right now.
You've got a press avail in the conference room. Big smiles.
Kendra, for the love of God, you can't do this to me.
I started without you.
That's okay. Where were we?
- Greg Brock. - Name sounds familiar. Any mustard?
- On your salad? - Yes or no?
So...
So you guys spent some time together.
- Brock? We can fill a conversation. - He's the guy?
- Which guy would that be? - Your fave.
- I don't play favorites. - I'm thinking you play favorites...
...given the times his name appears on your call sheet.
And given the fact that six reporters in the press corps...
...say you play favorites.
Used to be Danny Concanon, now it's Greg Brock.
So it's a crush or an affair...
...or a mutually acknowledged but unrequited...
- What are we talking about? - Oliver, I have a lot to do.
Danny was personal. If he's the new Danny...
- We're not doing this. - You talk to him every day.
He drops by more than a guy with a phone in his pocket needs to drop by.
And he published classified information on the front page of his newspaper.
So this does not fall into the category of things to which I do not need an answer.
You think the leak came from me.
I'm the suspect.
Can you tell me about the nature of your relationship with Greg Brock?
- Where's the congressman? - In front of cameras.
Okay, shut the door.
Wallingford's avoiding us because Vinick's 28 points ahead in his district.
He's not the only one. It's a bunch of Democrats.
- Twenty-eight? - Vinick's a known quantity.
Santos appeared out of nowhere at the end of the convention.
We're scrapping party-unity strategy. New strategy is...
...we don't put Congress on the stage. Santos isn't a hack. He's his own man.
- What happened? - Wallingford's avoiding us.
So is Hammond, Warren, Campbell and Ross.
What other districts have Vinick ahead by more than 20?
Looks like Kelly, Grader, Harrison, Zwick.
- Harrison? - I've got Marcus, Scott and Lester.
Okay, the congressman calls this list, Leo this.
Within the next 24 hours, we gotta do some handholding.
Kelly and I go way back. Zwick too. Put them on my list.
I'll call them all. I'll do all the calls. Who else?
- Houfek, Fenton. - That's the whole Colorado delegation.
Sir, the CNN guy's still waiting.
Tell him I need five minutes. But get Houfek on the phone for me right now.
Josh, you've got another interview.
I told Chuck everybody who's waiting, come back.
- Chuck said you'd want this one. - Well, Chuck is wrong.
- What else? - Hang on.
- That's it. - That's it? I'm sure it isn't.
- That's it. - You didn't even ask me.
- Ask you what? - "Did you tell Greg Brock of the Times...
...of the existence of a classified military space shuttle?"
I don't want to know.
I need to see the president.
Nice headline in the Post today. That's gotta feel good.
Yeah, it does. Heady stuff. How's Will?
Oh, back in the VP's office.
He wanders around a lot like a guy who can't find his glasses.
- Yeah. You going back there too? - The vice president's office?
I'm glad you brought that up.
I'm proud to say I've grown a lot in the last few months.
The Russell campaign gave me opportunities.
I took a role in drafting policy positions...
...and was promoted to the role of campaign spokesperson.
- Donna... - Let me get through this. It's awkward.
- We can't do this. - I'm good...
...is the point.
I'm as surprised as you are. And rumor has it, you could use a deputy.
"Matthew Santos is throwing a ton of numbers at you...
...hoping you'll miss the fact that his education plan...
...is impractical and unaffordable. He was a House member.
Behavior like that should irritate him.
Donna Moss, spokesperson, Russell campaign."
- I didn't mean... - "Claiming three House terms...
...qualifies you to be president is like me saying I'm a foreign-relations expert...
...because I ordered Kung Pao."
- I didn't say that. - "February 26th...
...Coffeecake and Candidates. Raleigh, North Carolina.
He wasn't a strategist, he was a pilot.
Ask him about the overhead compartment, not about defense."
You called Russell a cowpoke. You said the president avoided him.
You hummed "These Boots are Made for Walking."
Yeah, but I won.
It was my job, Josh.
You're not used to me being in authority. That's uncomfortable.
I got an airplane hanger there with 500 strangers...
...looking at me for direction. I got a candidate who doesn't trust them...
...and frankly, neither do I.
And if you think I don't miss you every day...
I can make a couple of calls.
Thank you for your time.
You need to stop the internal investigation of the security leak.
- Excuse me? - A White House investigation...
...is, at best, superfluous. - You getting tired?
We can give this to somebody else.
- I appreciate that... - You have a lot on your plate.
- You know, that's true. - This was a massive security breach.
Not only will we continue investigating...
...we'll make it clear to the American people...
...that it is among our highest priorities and not even remotely superfluous.
The evidence thus far suggests the leak came from inside the White House.
This was not NASA or DOD. This was us.
We are not qualified to investigate ourselves.
- We're not? - I don't have subpoena power.
I can't put people under oath.
If you want answers...
...cooperate with the attorney general's investigation and with Congress.
You have a suspect. Otherwise, we wouldn't have this conversation.
Come in. We're gonna get slammed for this.
The press is gonna say we're running like frightened rabbits, and they'd be right.
You're not gonna tell me who your suspect is?
No, sir, I'm not.
- Is this a bad time? - If you wait for a good time...
...you may be waiting a while.
I made a misstep today with the press.
President's gonna pass an education bill because he's powerful and I'm hot air?
- Yeah, that was ugly. - I apologize. It is truly embarrassing.
Leo, do a 20/20 interview.
Tell them the story they wanna hear. They'll stop gunning for you.
I could talk about addictions and heart attacks till I'm blue.
Best strategy is call it old news, move on.
It's not the best. It's not working. I'm spending half my day talking about it.
Do the interview.
If you're having second thoughts, there are options.
- You trying to quit? - No. Certainly not.
You're trying to quit or trying to get me to fire you.
- Well, it's something to think about. - I'm not gonna fire you.
You want out, you're gonna have to drum up another heart attack.
Thanks, that's a beautiful sentiment. I'm not sure what your vision for my role is.
At the moment, it's stumping and smiling for the camera.
Not herding policy advisors and running over to the White House with Josh.
You can't do his job.
My strength is my experience and relationships on the Hill.
What happens if you get on the phone with Hammond and Kelly and Zwick?
I can't win if we tell people that when things get serious...
...they're gonna get a call from Leo McGarry.
You saw the poll. America thinks you're the chaperone...
...and I'm running for prom king.
If you can't utilize my expertise, I'm just a drag on the ticket.
Nobody hired you because you'd be a brilliant campaigner.
You're a beginner at all this.
Yes, at the moment you're a liability, but you'll get the hang of it.
You know how to run a country. The conversation I'm interested in...
...is how to plan when you don't know what kind of Congress you'll work with.
- That's what transition is about. - I don't wanna wait till transition.
I want a plan in place.
I wanna spend transition hiring a staff that can execute it.
And on day one, I wanna get to work, not dickering around for three months.
- You wanna worry, worry about that. - Okay.
Well, let's start by reframing the question.
Forget about a four-year term. The presidency's 18 months.
That's your window.
After that, midterms. No one on the Hill's got time to do business with you.
They're too busy getting reelected. Then suddenly you're running again.
So I'm basically throwing out everything but my first five pages?
In the garbage. Realistically, one page.
But we can do this in phases.
Costo is waiting, I gotta pull him.
- Later. - What are they doing?
Making plans.
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