The 2002 Election

Bruno Gianelli Campaign Director

• As director of Bartlet's re-election campaign, Bruno got 12% of the ad-buys, hiring prerogatives for campaign staff, a room at the Hay-Adams, and a car and driver.  He wanted unfettered access to the President, but wasn't able to negotiate it [3.2].
• Bruno's record is quite impressive:  In 24 years of professional politics [4.3] he got 5 senators, 3 governors, and the prime minister of Israel elected. Still, Leo thinks he may never have voted in his life [3.2].
• Bruno worked with Joey Lucas in California, and says "she's good" [3.2].
• Because he has only so much RAM in his head, he's chosen not to care about some issues.  Like Title IX [4.3].
• He calls Margaret "red-headed girl" [3.1]. After calling her "Stacy," and pretending to think she was Leo's new assistant, Bruno gave Margaret a necklace with her name on it [3.20].

Notable Quotes

"I'm reading things that would make the cast of Up with People sit down on the floor and cry." [3.1]

"Leo, the only races I've ever lost are the ones where the candidate didn't listen, or the advice didn't get through." [3.2]

"Write me a speech, wouldya? One that doesn't make me think I'm sitting Shiva some place, black curtains on the mirrors." [3.2]

"Because I am tired of working for candidates who make me think I should be embarrassed to believe what I believe, Sam. I'm tired of getting them elected. We all need some therapy, because someone came along and said that liberal means "soft on crime." Soft on drugs. Soft on communism. Soft on defense. And we're gonna tax you back to the stone age because people shouldn't have to go to work if they don't want to. And instead of saying, 'Well, excuse me, you right-wing, reactionary xenophobic, homophobic, anti-education, anti-choice, pro-gun, Leave-it-to-Beaver-trip-back-to-the-fifties!' we cowered in the corner and said, 'Please. Don't. Hurt. Me.' No more. I really don't care who's right, who's wrong. We're both right, we're both wrong." [3.6]

"I wouldn't mind hitting some of the people.  I could make it look real." [3.20]

"I think anybody who's got a five point majority and still doesn't control the agenda might be spending a little too much time reading about how to get a man over his fear of commitment." [4.1]

"Losing makes you funny.  Winning makes you handsome." [4.08]

Connie Tate

• Connie was brought onto the campaign by Bruno [3.2].
• But her exact job description is unclear; Sam Seaborn thinks she's the person who waits until the more volatile Doug leaves the room and rephrases his points; she says that sometimes it's her job to do that when Doug's still in the room [3.2].

Notable Quotes 

"I was out trying to find a Starbucks. Guy in a gas station said 'Around here, people don't pay four dollars for a cup of coffee.'" [3.2]

Douglas Wegland

• Doug is a campaign strategist and speechwriter brought onto the campaign by Bruno.  Of Bartlet, Doug says that he "never drank the kool-aid," implying that he is outside of the Cult of Bartlet and can see the situation more clearly than the West Wing staffers [3.2].
• His exact job description is unclear, but he spends a considerable amount of time butting heads with Toby and Sam; he remarked that Toby had a problem with him, and he "would like to know the nature of it" [3.2].
• He argued repeatedly that the President needed to apologize for lying [3.2].
• Doug is from Oregon, where -- he says -- they like it for people to stand up and say they're wrong [3.2].

Notable Quotes

"Listen, it's a simple equation: Bartlet rules America, America rocks, therefore Bartlet rocks." [3.2]

"Republicans talk about how arrogant you guys are. I always thought it was the natural reaction that comes to not getting the girl. I can't believe how much they've been low-balling it." [3.2]

"You couldn't stop educating the public. You guys are never happier than when you're educating the public!" [3.2]

"You guys are so pissed at him you don't even know it. You're more pissed at him than the press is. You're more pissed at him than the party is. You're so pissed at him, you're pissed at me. 'Cause if he hadn't lied, then you could've run the campaign you've always wanted to run." [3.2]

• Aide who consulted on which tie would look best on camera for the presidential debate [4.6].

• Aide who consulted on which tie would look best on camera for the presidential debate [4.6].

• Aide who consulted on which tie would look best on camera for the presidential debate [4.6].

• A campaign volunteer in Indiana.  He's volunteering for school credit, and he's gotten in trouble in the past for passing out leaflets in local restaurants. He gives Josh, Toby, and Donna a ride to the train station [4.1].
• Tyler's not exactly popular with the ladies-- Kiki calls him "creepy stalking guy."

• A pollster whom Bruno contracted out of Cook County Illinois. He spent Election Night taking credit for the Bartlet re-election strategy until CJ smacked him down [4.08].

Robert Ritchie Governor of Florida

• Presidential candidate in 2002¹.  At the time of the Iowa Caucus, he wasn't considered a serious candidate [3.12].
• Supports referendum banning any use of race in college admissions [3.12].
• Ritchie is the author of A Promise to Lead, although Charlie, at least, believes it was ghostwritten [3.16].
• Bartlet slyly remarks that Ritchie has a .22 caliber mind in a .357 world, which sets the press off into a flurry, questioning if Ritchie has the intellectual wherewithal to be President [3.16].
• By his own admission, Ritchie is not a doctor, a scientist, a mind-reader, or Chinese [4.1].

Notable Quotes

"Crime. Boy, I dunno." [3.22]

"You're an academic elitist and a snob.  You're Hollywood, you're weak, you're liberal, and you can't be trusted.  And if it appears from time to time as if I don't like you, well, those are just a few of the many reasons why." [3.22]

"I'm no scientist, but I know a thing or two about physics." [4.1]

"We ought to begin and end with abstinence.  We ought to begin and end with personal responsibility." [4.4]

• Presidential candidate in 2002 [3.12]. Considered a "serious candidate" by Bartlet.

• Credited with the Ritchie campaign's economic plan [4.1].

• Ritchie's running mate [3.20].

• Sam's friend, who is working for the Ritchie campaign as Communications Director [3.20].

• Presidential candidate in 2002 [3.12]. Considered a "serious candidate" by Bartlet.
• House Chairman of a Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary subcommittee who opposes funding the administration's lawsuit against Big Tobacco [2.21].
• He received $460,000 in campaign funds from tobacco company political action committees in the last election cycle [2.21].
• Josh calls him a "fatass Rotarian gasbag"  who is vulnerable in his home state because of an influx of high tech industries. Bruno notes that if Kalmbach had won the nomination, the Bartlet campaign could have used his support for nicotine against him [3.2].

• Republican vying for the presidential nomination in 2002 [3.2].

• Republican vying for the presidential nomination in 2002 [3.2].
• A member of the House, he is opposed to campaign finance reform [1.20].

• Presidential candidate in 2002 [3.12].

• Republican vying for the presidential nomination in 2002 [3.2].

• Credited with Ritchie's education plan [4.1].

• Presidential candidate in 2002 [3.12]. Considered a "serious candidate" by Bartlet.

• He has a relative who has been arrested for drugs and gotten off easy and Was warned by Leo McGarry not to challenge the president's new drug strategy by claiming the president was soft on crime [1.20].
• Sam Seaborn was hoping to debate him on Capital Beat [2.3].  Josh has always liked him [4.4].
• According to the White House, Stackhouse isn't someone you sweat. He's been around forever (five terms in the Senate), but he has little influence, little power, and few friends [2.17].
• His wife died during the presidential campaign and Bartlet was too busy to attend her funeral [2.17].
• Stackhouse was all over Bartlet during his first year in office, calling him "Bartlet the Inert," and his hero is Hubert Humphrey [2.17].
• Stackhouse has seven grandchildren, one of whom is autistic [2.17].
• He wanted to add an amendment to the Family Wellness Act, an omnibus health bill aimed at diseases that disproportionately affect children, that would allocate money for autism care and research [2.17].
• After the White House refused to add the amendment, Stackhouse successfully staged a lengthy filibuster, despite the fact that he was 78 years old and suffering from a head cold [2.17].
• Stackhouse ran in the 2002 Presidential election as a third-party candidate, though we wasn't on the ballot in 23 states, and was polling at 4% in New York and California.  He dropped out and endorsed President Bartlet before the debate [4.4].

Notable Quotes

"No, Josh, I think you of all people shouldn't fly things." [4.4]

• One of Stackhouse's staffers.  Amy Gardner thinks she's a pain in the ass [4.4].

• Horton Wilde's opponent in the 2002 election for the California 47th District. 
• He's a seventh-term congressman and the chairman of two commerce subcommittees. He's accepted campaign contributions from businesses that he regulates. He's a member of the NRA and once challenged another member of Congress to a fistfight [4.6].

• A Democrat running in California's 47th District, which is in very Republican Orange County.  During the 2002 election, Wilde was hospitalized for his fourth heart attack [4.4].
• Wilde died while Bartlet was in North Carolina attending Debate Camp, opening up a possible job opportunity for Sam Seaborn [4.5].

• Political Director for Sam Seaborn's campaign [4.9].

• The campaign manager for Sam Seaborn's campaign [4.9].

• A volunteer on Horton Wilde's campaign [4.6].

• Volunteer Coordinator for Sam Seaborn's campaign [4.9].

• A very young volunteer on Horton Wilde's campaign. She and her young friends make posters encouraging people to vote, which leads Will Bailey to refer to them as "Sally and the Suffragettes" [4.6].

• A volunteer on Horton Wilde's campaign [4.6].

• A volunteer on Horton Wilde's campaign.  Sam assumes she's Will Bailey's assistant [4.6].
• She worked as a writer on a sitcom, but her jokes were too smart for the show. She wrote the jokes for Gabe Tillman's Stanford Club speech [4.6].

• The communications director for Sam Seaborn's campaign [4.9].

• The financial director for Sam Seaborn's campaign [4.9].