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"Previously on the West Wing" spoken by C.J.

Three years into the future, a reunion of former President Bartlet and his West Wing staff occurs at the dedication ceremony of the Josiah Bartlet Presidential Library.  Josh is caught off guard when political commentators are critical of Leo as a running mate for Matt Santos.  White House Counsel Babish discusses the leak investigation with C.J.  Donna approaches Josh for a job.

Summary[]

Opening - Three Years Later - Dedication of the Josiah Bartlet Presidential Library[]

Josiah Bartlet, now the ex-president, enters the main reading room of his new presidential library, meeting former members of his West Wing staff.

He greets C.J. and her husband Danny Concannon, asking for pictures of their baby.  He shakes hands with Toby, tells Kate he read her book, and trades jibes with Charlie, who compliments Bartlet on his efforts in Jakarta.  Finally, he asks new congressman Will about his seat on the House Ways and Means committee, which Will attempts to minimize.

Josh approaches the group and announces the arrival of the president.  As Bartlet and his former aides move out of the foyer, the motorcade approaches, and the president steps out of his limo.  The identity of the president is not revealed.

Act I - Brayburn College - Michigan / 105 Days Until Election Day[]

The Santos' arrive for a campaign appearance with Josh.  Bram meets Josh and shows him a mock-up of the cover of Time, with Santos on it, and the tagline, "President Santos?"  The majority of the press questions directed at Santos concern the selection of Leo as the VP, which is irking Santos.

The Port of Philadelphia[]

In Philadelphia, Leo arrives with Annabeth for a separate campaign appearance.  Annabeth is prepping him on his remarks and other issues that he has been having in his campaign speeches.

Staffers, including Josh and Leo, are anxiously awaiting the release of a Gallup Poll on the presidential race, the first since the Democratic Convention.  Santos finishes working the rope line and comes over and also asks if the poll is out yet.

Walking to the podium, Josh suggests that Santos and Leo sit down when they are back in DC to "get to know one another."  Santos is not keen on the idea and is more interested in the release of the poll.  Josh promises the information as soon as he has it.

In the White House, the President is reviewing a copy of the Gallup Poll, which has not yet been released.  He is also preparing for a phone call with the Russians to tell them of the military shuttle that will be launched that evening in an attempt to rescue the astronauts on the Space Station.  He is also planning to call any other world leaders that may detect the launch.  The President is also interested in the progress of the several ongoing investigations to identify the leaker, who has not yet been identified.  The President also directs the Senior Staff to talk with Speaker Haffley about the possibility of an education bill that will help with the President's legacy. Returning to her office, C.J. finds Oliver Babish, the White House Counsel, on her couch, there to talk to her about the "NASA crap."

Josh is standing in the wings while Santos is speaking.  Ronna needs him to mediate with some Congressmen who don't want to appear with Santos.  While he's talking, Bram comes up with the poll, hands it to Josh, who walks away to read it.  In Philadelphia, Leo finishes his speech and Annabeth points out that he needs to be more sharp with his answers to questions from the press.  While he is speaking to the press, Annabeth is handed a copy of the poll.  In Michigan, Josh tells Santos about the poll numbers when he finishes speaking:  they are only nine points down.  Santos is looking over the numbers and is concerned about the negative numbers for Leo.

Back at the White House, Toby comes looking for C.J.  Margaret tells him that she is with Babish and expects to be for some time.  Babish is questioning C.J. about the leak:  it appears that he has been led to believe that the leak came from her.  Kate comes to Toby's office; he wants to find out what she told Babish; he is visibly concerned about Babish questioning C.J.

Act II - Santos for President National Headquarters, Washington DC[]

Josh, Santos, and others arrive at the campaign headquarters.  Josh introduces Santos to some of the staff (that has been hired, with many more to go).  In Josh's office, Santos and Josh go over upcoming events.  Ronna reports that several other Colorado Congressmen have declined appearances with Santos (which Josh believes is VP Russell's doing).  On the TV, a reporter is talking about the hard sell of Leo as the VP candidate, to which Santos appears aggravated.

At the White House, Babish and C.J. are continuing their discussions.  C.J. admits that she spoke with Leo, Toby, and the Secretary of Defense's deputy, in addition to Kate.  C.J. was not sure if she got all the information from Kate and had to go to other sources for the whole story.

Leo arrives at the headquarters and Josh talks with Leo about the issues, including a planned visit to the White House.  Santos had told Josh that he didn't want Leo to go, but Leo tells Josh that he's going.  Clippings about Leo's appearances are handed to Annabeth and Leo tries to look at them but she sends Leo off with Bram, who introduces Leo to his Secret Service detail.  Josh and Annabeth look over the clippings, which depict Leo as the puppet master of Santos.

In Josh's office, Joey Lucas is there to go over the poll numbers with Josh.  For the most part, the numbers are good but there is still work to be done.  Josh heads off for another meeting with the staff and the Congressman.  Josh suggests they wait for Leo, but Santos pushes forward with the agenda.  When Leo arrives, the discussion turns to Leo's appearances and the press inquiries about Leo's health and drug history.  After the meeting, Leo and Josh are talking.  Leo is a little disappointed, as he was hoping to be more involved with strategy instead of campaign appearances.  Josh tells him not to worry.

Act III[]

At the White House, Babish and C.J. are still meeting in her office.  Margaret comes in to give C.J. a note, as she has a meeting with the Santos Campaign (Josh and Leo).  Babish asks if she misses the two of them.  She responds that it gives her a little more work to do, including some press secretary stuff.  Babish then asks if that is why Greg Brock is repeatedly on her call sheet.

Back in C.J.'s office, the conversation with Babish finally makes C.J. realize that she is the focus of the investigation, and that she is the suspected leaker because of whatever relationship she may or may not have with Greg Brock.

Returning to the campaign headquarters, Leo is besieged by reporters and makes a gaffe about the President's plan to work with Speaker Haffley on education.  Josh is still dealing with the renegade Congressmen who doesn't want to appear with Santos. Annabeth finds Josh to tell him what happened, and he gets Bram to work on a statement to help walk the comments back.

In the meeting with Josh and Leo, C.J. and Toby reveal to them they have had an overture from the Speaker on Education, which makes both Leo and Josh mad, because it will take the whole issue away from the campaign.  C.J. returns to her office, and Kate intercepts her to tell her that the shuttle is about to take off; they then head for the Situation Room. Outside the Oval Office, Leo meets up with the President and they walk toward the Situation Room together.  Leo tries to tell the President to leave the education issue alone. The President asks Leo what he would say if he (Leo) were still Chief of Staff.  Leo tries to advise the President that he would want the President to be sure that his successor was from the same party, but neither Leo nor the President believe Leo really means it.

Act IV[]

Back at Santos Headquarters, Josh is trying to navigate the rogue congressmen who don't want to appear with Santos.  They make a list of congressmen who represent districts where Vinick is leading Santos.  Josh wants Leo and Santos to call the congressmen, Santos says he will call all of them.  Ronna comes in to tell Josh he has another interview, (which he doesn't want to do), until he sees that it is Donna.

At the White House, Babish tells C.J. that he is done talking with her and needs to see the President, although he never asked her if she was the source of the leak.  In the Oval Office, Babish tells the President the White House needs to stop its investigation and let the Justice Department and Congress finish their investigations. Babish tells the President he has no power to subpoena anyone and the administration can't really investigate itself properly.  The President asks Babish if he has a suspect.  Babish says he does but refuses to tell the President who it is.

Josh and Donna go into his office, where she makes a pitch for a job.  He pulls out a folder and begins to read statements from her on behalf of Russell, where she trashed Santos.  He tells her that he couldn't hire her, even if he wanted to, and that he wishes she could be with him.

Leo sees Santos working in an office and goes in to talk with him.  The two of them talk over some of the issues and the relationship problem they are having.  Santos doesn't want Leo to be perceived as running the campaign:  he needs to be out in front as the head of the ticket.  Santos and Leo begin to talk about strategies (which Leo is good at) and they begin to move past their rocky start.  Outside the office, Josh sees the two of them talking.  Bram comes up to Josh to tell him that he needs one of them.  Josh tells Bram to leave them alone, "they're making plans."

Trivia / Goofs[]

  • This is the first episode that Kristin Chenoweth is listed in the main opening credits. [1]
  • Annabeth and Josh discuss a political cartoon using the Wizard of Oz, Kristin Chenoweth played Glinda in the Broadway musical Wicked, which is about the land of Oz before Dorothy got there. [2]
  • Ironically, Leo is not present during the 3 year forward opening.  John Spencer was still living when this scene was filmed. It can be assumed that his absence was most likely done to avoid spoiling who the winner of the election was, since Leo was a vice presidential candidate it would have confirmed if he was the vice president or not. Leo would be killed off by a heart attack when John Spencer tragically died of the same cause.  This would mean Leo would be dead when the opening of this episode takes place.
  • The timing is off (again) for this episode.  The shuttle rescue mission, which is about to take place needed to occur during the Convention for there to be any hope of rescuing the astronauts alive.  This episode takes place about a week later.
  • Despite the on-screen text denoting Leo's presence in Philadelphia at the beginning of the episode, a sign on a crane at the harbor says "Port of Long Beach" which is in California.

Quotes[]

Josh Lyman: Get me an advance copy of this damn poll before I chew my arm off!
Annabeth Schott: Leo, we don't want to give the impression you're iffy on your candidate's name.
Toby Ziegler: He doesn't think the AG's objective.
President Bartlet: The AG hates us.  We hate him.  It doesn't get more objective than that.
Joey Lucas / Kenny: 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."
Josh Lyman: This is the kind of comment you really don't wanna hear coming out of Kenny.
Joey Lucas / 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.
Leo McGarry: I accepted the premise of the question, didn't I?
Annabeth Schott: You sure did.
Josh Lyman: I've got an airplane hangar out there filled with 500 strangers looking to me for direction.  I've got a candidate who doesn't trust any of them.  And frankly neither do I.  And if you don't think I miss you every day...

Cast[]

Starring[]

Special Guest Stars[]

Guest Starring[]

Co-Starring[]

  • Mindy Seeger as Chris
  • Barbara Lee Bragg as Christine
  • Burt Bulos as Reporter #2
  • Phil Trask, Jr. as Kevin
  • Paul Keeley as Agent Ellis Taylor

References[]

"The West Wing" The Ticket (2005)
The West Wing: The Ticket

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