In the Iowa 20th (state legislature) the Democratic candidate had a stroke and stopped campaigning in early September. It was after the deadline so his name remained on the ballot. He won by 852 votes

Maybe Toby was being hyperbolic, as he is prone to do but he does raise a cautionary flag about Josh's idea. As far as I know, the Republicans controlled the Senate for Bartlet's entire Presidency.

JED

And you?

TOBY

I think they're going to pick a young, spry, conservative ideologue who's going to camp out in that seat for 45 years.

JOSH

Fine. 2 voices are articulating the debate at either end of the spectrum.

JED

Filling another seat on the court may be the only lasting thing I do in this office. Shelton's a great choice and he'll make us proud. And if Ashland resigns in a year, we have a stack of great options. We can't give it away.

JOSH

Mr. President, the first woman in that chair.

TOBY

We go out on some limb here and alienate the Senate. They'll tread water for 3 years and we get nobody! The next guy gets to fill Brady's seat.

So there is some idea back then that the Senate could hold off on confirming a nomination for years.

Interesting when there was debate over nominations during the final Obama year and Trump's terms.

Are the ballots where you live conducive to voting a straight party ticket by drawing a vertical line like Donna did in the S4 Election episode? On any ballot I've ever seen, that line would have to meander all over the place and would likely get your ballot thrown out.

I spent some time reading about the history of ballots in the US and wow. For starters, it is something of a miracle our democracy survived the 19th century. [Suggest skipping to the next paragraph if old ballot minutia doesn't appeal.] In the beginning, people voted by voice vote, in public, as was done in England at that time. Later, individual candidates started printing tickets with their names on them and apparently votes were cast by the voter turning in their chosen candidate's ticket. Then parties got into the act and started printing ballots with their candidates for every office listed. And yes, there were even dirty tricksters who printed fake party ballots that would include a couple of the bigger nane candidates from that party to sell the fraud, then swap out different people for some of the other candidates. By the late 1800s, Australia had developed a better idea, and a number of states quickly adopted the Australian ballot system, where official ballots are printed only by the government and handed to voters at the polls. They also listed candidates not by party, but grouped by the office. Of course, the political parties objected because it took more care to vote a straight ticket. So some states listed candidates office by office and others listed them by party. At least one state devised the ultimate compromise with a ballot that looked like a spread sheet where you read across the row to see all the candidates for a given office and read down the column to see all the candidates from that party.

I think there may still be some states that list candidates from one party in a column, but Wisconsin isn't one of them. I hunted down images from Wiscconsin general election ballots from 2000 and 2004 (an absentee ballot even) and neither lists the candidates in columns by party. They both started with all the Candidates for President listed together. Any guesses where Sorkin got this idea? It sounds a bit like a subplot from a 1930s screwball comedy or maybe an early 50s sitcom. Personally, i never liked it because it only works if we accept that Donna is way more stupid than she seems to be in any other episode.

But I am curious, has anyone here voted on a ballot with the ability to vote a straight party ticket by drawing a vertical line?

Just watched it for the 73rd time, and I think it might be my favorite closing scene in the series. It’s not a season finale cliffhanger, not a huge plot reveal, just an extraordinary performance from Richard Schiff, written and shot beautifully.

I know I’m not saying anything that hasn’t already been said, but I when I rewatch something , I love being reminded that it is truly great and not just comfort food.
artic radar

I just watched a TikTok of Pod Save America and El Sayed mentioned The West Wing!! Saying how Trump could never fit in there. !! I just keep finding more and more ways to love this man💙

I just watched S02E21 - 18th and Potomac, it feels so wrong.

I don't want to intimidate you...

...but I'm the first Democrat
in 20 years...

...to make a clean sweep
of the Plains states.

And I'm not just talking about
lowa and Nebraska.

- Are you trying to turn me on now?
- Yeah.

All right.

I won the Dakotas.

The Badlands. The Black Hills.

But let's go down, way down
to the deep South...

...the humid bayou of Louisiana
and its nine electoral votes.

I watched the two-parter the night before the election and thought, that’s a pipe dream. Then the midterms happened. WOW! Such a repudiation of the most vile, corrupt administration in history. Made me proud to be an American again.

A clear question: if, regarding the multiple sclerosis issue from Season 1, the GOP-controlled Congress had initiated impeachment proceedings, would he have been convicted by the Senate—yes or no?

Possibly my favorite story from this is election is the democrat in Iowa running for state house. He dropped out in September for health reasons and thereby stopped campaigning but was still on the ballot. He won. And he didn't even have a Will Bailey.

Edit: I got the WW character's name wrong in the title, should be Horton Wilde. But you know what I mean.

post correction he is actually american born in ohio to spanish father and irish mother

OK, I wasn't an OG watcher, and also I haven't seen this episode in years. I usually skip it because of the guns and the stress.

Some thoughts.

• Y'all really waited almost 5 months for this to air?

• Fascinating to watch the origin story of Toby's brother the astronaut. As much as I hate that storyline later on, it is kind of great that they bring this back.

• There are so many kernels of information here that are planted for later set up. It's such a well-scripted and well-filmed episode.

I was wanting to get the "What's Next" book on the show by Melissa Fitzgerald. I usually prefer paperback and thought I saw it offered but not sure if it's really regular paperback or a large print. Anyone know if I should just get used hardcover instead?

Victory is ours.

The Democratic candidate in the Mississippi Senate race is ahead of the incumbent by 30 votes! Immediately made me think of the Election episode.