Josh always figured Sam would start auctioning off entire states, but he'd have preferred Sam to start with Delaware. The staffers haggle over a land-use rider attached to a banking bill -- Sam and Mandy suggest they swallow it and allow strip-mining in Montana, while Toby and Josh struggle for a way to win. To Leo's dismay, his daughter Mallory invites Sam on a not-date, while CJ smoothes over a Bartlet-Hoynes confrontation and fends off Danny Concannon's efforts to charm her.

2001 WGA Award Nominee:
Outstanding Achievement in Television Writing for Episodic Drama

Story by RICK CLEVELAND and LAWRENCE O’DONNELL JR. and PATRICK CADDELL
Teleplay by RON OSBORN and JEFF RENO
Directed by ALAN TAYLOR

Starring:

ROB LOWE as Sam Seaborn
DULÉ HILL as Charlie Young
ALLISON JANNEY as C.J. Cregg
MOIRA KELLY as Mandy Hampton
RICHARD SCHIFF as Toby Ziegler
JOHN SPENCER as Leo McGarry
BRADLEY WHITFORD as Josh Lyman
and MARTIN SHEEN as President Josiah Bartlet

Britannica.com: Cabinet
Beijing Opera
Encyclopedia.com: strip mining
Big Sky, Montana
Antiquities Act of 1906

Bartlet:  Shenandoah National Park, right here in Virginia.  We should organize a staff field trip to Shenandoah.  I could even act as the guide.  What do you think?

Josh:  Good a place as any to dump your body.

Bartlet:  What was that?

Josh:  Did I say that out loud?

Bartlet:  See?  And I was going to let you go home.

Josh:  But instead?

Bartlet:  We're gonna talk about Yosemite.

---

Toby:  It couldn't have gone far, right?

Sam:  No.

Toby:  Somewhere in this building is our talent.

Sam:  Yes.

---

Sam:  You're asking me out on a date.

Mallory:  No.

Sam:  No.

Mallory:  No, I'm asking you if you'd like to go together with me to see an internationally renowned opera company perform a work indigenous to its culture.

Sam:  Right.  And in what way will it distinguish itself from a date?

Mallory:  There will be, under no circumstances, sex for you at the end of the evening.

---

Josh:  Big Sky Federal Reserve, Sam.  They want to strip mine the length and breadth of Montana.

Sam:  We don't care.

Josh:  We do care.

Sam:  Not today.

Josh:  Sam--

Sam:  And since when are you outdoorsy?

Josh:  Please.  This isn't about the environment.  It's about retribution.

---

Mandy:  Toby--

Toby:  I am not to the one to talk to about the banking bill anymore, Mandy.  I have hatred in my heart.

Mandy:  Toward whom?

Toby:  You go ahead and pick 'em.  Today it's Broderick and Eaton.