Professional Backgound
- Sam graduated magna cum laude [4.6] from Princeton [1.6], which also happens to be his Secret Service code name [1.10].
- For 23 pages in the middle of Sam's undergraduate thesis at Princeton he argued alleged spy Daniel Gault's innocence and called for his pardon. He mailed a copy to Gault's son [2.16].
- Sam was editor of the law review [4.6] at Duke law school, where he was friends with Tom Jordan, who ran unsuccessfully for a Congressional seat in Florida in the 2000 midterm elections [2.3].
- In four years of college and three years of law school, Sam spent $30 at Kinko's [2.17].
- Sam graduated from law school in 1991 and went to work for Dewey/Ballantine [1.1]. For seven years before joining Bartlet's campaign [4.6], Sam worked for Gage Whitney Pace in midtown Manhattan, the second-largest law firm in New York, and the one which landed the Shearson deal [2.1].
- Sam once worked as a congressional aide [2.2], presumably after his time at Dewey/Ballantine and before he joined Gage Whitney.
- At Gage Whitney, Sam protected oil companies from litigation. His boss was Jack Gage, and his clients included Mr. Loch, Mr. Cameron [2.1], and Kensington Oil [2.19].
- With Sam's help, Kensington Oil purchased The Indio, an aged oil tanker with faulty steering and navigation systems. He tried unsuccessfully to talk them out of it, and The Indio later ran aground off the coast of Delaware [2.19].
- He billed at $500 an hour in the private sector [1.7]; he was one month away from making partner at Gage Whitney when he left to join the Bartlet campaign [2.1].
- Although Josh Lyman tried to convince Sam to work for Hoynes as a speechwriter, he refused [2.1]. When Josh showed up with his bad poker face, Sam left his job in the middle of a meeting to join Bartlet's campaign, because he was "the real thing" [2.2]. Other Democrats told Sam and the rest of the staffers their campaign was embarrassing at first [4.6].
- Sam is a sought-after lawyer and speechwriter, although he claims to be paid less than a kid with a decent paper route [1.2].
- The White House often sends Sam to represent the left on Capital Beat because he "wipes the floor" with the opposing panelist. Except when he gets his ass kicked by a girl [2.4].
- Sam is a counselor to the president, mostly on domestic matters, though generally not security related. He works with Toby Ziegler and CJ Cregg on crafting the administration's message and getting it out through the print and electronic media. While his functions are generally perceived to be politically skewed, it's not the DNC, but rather American tax dollars that pay his salary [1.1]. He is classified but he doesn't have code-word clearance [2.16].
- According to Jed Bartlet, Sam's going to run for President one day [3.14]. Leo thinks Sam has "one of the great minds" of his generation [4.4]. Although Sam doesn't have a solution to bring about peace in the Middle East yet, he's not done [4.4]
- CJ thinks there aren't ten people in the country who could have written Bartlet's third state of the union [3.11]. Sam has ghosted for Senators, movie stars, and possibly the King of Belgium once [4.6].
- Sam has never before Election Day 2002 been on time to a senior staff meeting [4.6].
- Sam's assistant is Cathy [1.1], though she seems to have disappeared. He has been seen working with both Ginger and Bonnie [2.12]; perhaps he and Toby share assistants. On trips, he brings Bonnie and Ginger gifts, which he tends to buy in the hotel gift shop [3.20].
- Almost accidentally, Sam ended up running for Congress in 2002:
- An underdog candidate in Sam's home district of Orange County dropped dead a few weeks before the election, and largely through the determination of campaign manager Will Bailey, still managed to beat the incumbent Republican by a narrow margin [4.8].
- Sam, who was sure the impossible would not happen, told Will to tell the dead Democrat's wife that Sam would run in her husband's place if he posthumously beat the incumbent. After the story broke on the news, Sam admitted to his colleagues that he'd been foiled by Aristotle, and decided to run in the special election [4.8].
- When a campaign staffer called Donna stupid, Sam fired him on the spot [4.16].
- One week before the election, the President made a calamitous visit to Orange County. Sam was down 5-8 points against Webb, and his favorables were below 50%; despite the numbers, Sam was not yet thinking about losing the race [4.16].
- When Sam realized the President was risking serious PR problems by not countering the Republican economics plan -- because unveiling the tax hike for the top 1% while in Orange County would probably kill Sam's campaign -- Sam marched out onto the stage and announced it himself, because if he's going to lose, he'd like to lose doing something [4.16].
- To Josh's, Toby's, CJ's, and Will's dismay, Sam's DNC-approved campaign manager, Scott Holcomb, effectively gave up on the election and started canceling events with labor in favor of business interests. Josh and Toby repeatedly requested leave to go run the campaign, but were denied until the President fired Scott and told Toby -- who'd been arrested and, as Josh points out, probably couldn't leave the state anyway -- to stay and run the last week of the campaign [4.16].
- Amy Gardner was out in California working on Sam's campaign and got national endorsements from The Sierra Club and NARAL [4.17].
- One week out, Sam was down 8 points, with 10 points up for grabs. Despite some optimism early on, Toby confirmed to Sam that he was getting creamed [4.17].
- President Bartlet pledged that he'd kill Sam if he wasted this opportunity to run on his own platform [4.9].
- Sam was promoted to Senior Counselor to the President [4.15] when Will Bailey earned a position as Deputy Communications Director.
