Sam packs up his office and heads to California to kick his Congressional campaign into high gear. He sends speechwriter Will Bailey to Toby with a note that reads "He's one of us." Toby, who's somewhat daunted by the thought of writing Bartlet's second Inaugural address himself, dismisses Will. Until, that is, Will gives an honest critique of Toby's weaknesses as a writer and then produces a stellar 500 word stanza. Meanwhile, CJ handily deals with a disgruntled reporter upset with his seat assignment, Donna dispatches Josh to see if Commander Jack Reese likes her, and the men of the White House get an earful from the respective women in their lives when a talented female fighter pilot is about to be dishonorably discharged for having an affair.

Starring:

ROB LOWE as Sam Seaborn
STOCKARD CHANNING as First Lady Abigail Bartlet
DULÉ HILL as Charlie Young
ALLISON JANNEY as C.J. Cregg
JANEL MOLONEY as Donna Moss
RICHARD SCHIFF as Toby Ziegler
JOHN SPENCER as Leo McGarry
BRADLEY WHITFORD as Josh Lyman
and MARTIN SHEEN as President Josiah Bartlet

Toby:  Call and response isn't going to work in front of a joint session.  You're alliteration happy:  guardians of gridlock, protectors of privilege.  I needed an avalanche of Advil.  And when you use pop culture references, your speech has a shelf life of twelve minutes.  You don't mind constructive criticism, do you?

Will:  No, sir.

Toby:  Anyway, thanks for coming in.  I told Sam I could do this by myself.

Will:  Well, maybe he thought that your speeches were obscurantist policy tracts lost in a cul-de-sac of their own internal self-righteousness and groaning from the weight of statistics.  I'm just speculating.  I couldn't say for sure.

Toby:  A 500-word stanza on American leadership in a globally interdependent age that moves beyond triumphalism by this time tomorrow.  If it's 501, don't show it to me.

---

Charlie:  You want me to have the President dodge a call from the U.N. Secretary-General and not know why?

Leo:  Yeah.  Could you swing that?

Charlie:  If it could, that would be troubling, wouldn't it?

---

Josh:  These are endearing stories.  

Donna:  If you know me, if you know me well, if you already like me.  These are not stories, for instance, that I would've told you when I was trying to get the job.

Josh:  When you were trying to get the job, you were pretending that you'd already gotten the job, so it's not like your underwear at an art gallery was gonna change my mind.

Donna:  You told him about the underwear?

Josh:  Again:  endearing.

---

Bartlet:  You're right.

Leo:  That's an unusual phrase for you, sir.  Did you just learn it?

Bartlet:  Well, you didn't let me finish.

Leo:  I had a hunch.

Bartlet:  I may also be right.