Secretary of State
The West Wing
June 25, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
Two presidential candidates.
A moderate, republican United States senator from a western state in his golden years with decades of political experience.
A fortysomething, ethnic, democratic congressman with just a few years on his national political resume.
John McCain and Barack Obama?
No.
Arnold Vinick and Matthew Santos.
The last years of The West Wing gave us a fictional presidential race featuring two television heavyweights. Senator Arnold Vinick from Santa Paula, California, played by Alan Alda. Congressman Matthew Santos from Houston, Texas, played by Jimmy Smits.
In this parallel political universe, Vinick and Santos want to succeed President Jed Bartlet, the liberal, Nobel Prize winning economist from New Hampshire who built a political life -- congressman, governor, President of the United States. Martin Sheen plays Bartlet.
Santos' team enjoyed the leadership of Bartlet's former Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, played by Bradley Whitford. Josh sees the congressman's incredible political intuition and convinces him not to retire from politics as originally planned.
A novice at presidential campaigns, Santos proves himself to be a quick learner.
But Vinick throws fear into the democratic side, particularly Bartlet's Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, played by John Spencer.
He knows that Vinick has the invaluable ability to connect with voters at the grass-roots level.
Combined with years of political experience, his brand-name quality in politics, and savvy campaign skills, Vinick will be a tough competitor.
For his running mate, Vinick chooses the conservative governor of West Virginia to shore up the conservative base -- Ray Sullivan, played by Brett Cullen.
Santos stays close to home and selects Leo McGarry, a terrific administrator with unparalleled political knowledge, wisdom, and instinct.
The presidential campaign arc of The West Wing features a live debate and a Democratic National Convention with ballots, unlike the scripted infomercials with which we've become familiar.
Santos wins the nomination of his party after a rousing, inspiring, and honest speech to the delegates encouraging them to vote for who the believe will do the best job as president.
John Spencer's death in December of 2005 left a void in The West Wing. The writers constructed a plot line where Leo McGarry dies of a heart attack on Election Night. The device is not a terrific stretch as McGarry had major heart problems in a previous story line.
Santos wins the election. Dialogue indicates the president-elect will replace McGarry with Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, a candidate during the democratic presidential primaries, because of Baker's executive experience.
In a show of bipartisan unity, Santos asks Vinick to be Secretary of State because of his strategic thinking and strong relationships with the democratic corps.
The last episode of The West Wing takes place on Inauguration Day. Appropriately, Martin Sheen has the last word in the series. When his wife asks him what he's thinking about, he replies, Tomorrow.
david@davidkrell.com
Two presidential candidates.
A moderate, republican United States senator from a western state in his golden years with decades of political experience.
A fortysomething, ethnic, democratic congressman with just a few years on his national political resume.
John McCain and Barack Obama?
No.
Arnold Vinick and Matthew Santos.
The last years of The West Wing gave us a fictional presidential race featuring two television heavyweights. Senator Arnold Vinick from Santa Paula, California, played by Alan Alda. Congressman Matthew Santos from Houston, Texas, played by Jimmy Smits.
In this parallel political universe, Vinick and Santos want to succeed President Jed Bartlet, the liberal, Nobel Prize winning economist from New Hampshire who built a political life -- congressman, governor, President of the United States. Martin Sheen plays Bartlet.
Santos' team enjoyed the leadership of Bartlet's former Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman, played by Bradley Whitford. Josh sees the congressman's incredible political intuition and convinces him not to retire from politics as originally planned.
A novice at presidential campaigns, Santos proves himself to be a quick learner.
But Vinick throws fear into the democratic side, particularly Bartlet's Chief of Staff Leo McGarry, played by John Spencer.
He knows that Vinick has the invaluable ability to connect with voters at the grass-roots level.
Combined with years of political experience, his brand-name quality in politics, and savvy campaign skills, Vinick will be a tough competitor.
For his running mate, Vinick chooses the conservative governor of West Virginia to shore up the conservative base -- Ray Sullivan, played by Brett Cullen.
Santos stays close to home and selects Leo McGarry, a terrific administrator with unparalleled political knowledge, wisdom, and instinct.
The presidential campaign arc of The West Wing features a live debate and a Democratic National Convention with ballots, unlike the scripted infomercials with which we've become familiar.
Santos wins the nomination of his party after a rousing, inspiring, and honest speech to the delegates encouraging them to vote for who the believe will do the best job as president.
John Spencer's death in December of 2005 left a void in The West Wing. The writers constructed a plot line where Leo McGarry dies of a heart attack on Election Night. The device is not a terrific stretch as McGarry had major heart problems in a previous story line.
Santos wins the election. Dialogue indicates the president-elect will replace McGarry with Pennsylvania Governor Eric Baker, a candidate during the democratic presidential primaries, because of Baker's executive experience.
In a show of bipartisan unity, Santos asks Vinick to be Secretary of State because of his strategic thinking and strong relationships with the democratic corps.
The last episode of The West Wing takes place on Inauguration Day. Appropriately, Martin Sheen has the last word in the series. When his wife asks him what he's thinking about, he replies, Tomorrow.
Recount
June 04, 2009
by David Krell
david@davidkrell.com
HBO's 2008 tv-movie Recount dramatizes the events surrounding the controversial Florida votes in the 2000 presidential election.
The docudrama faces an enormous challenge because we viewed the real-life drama day after day on 24-hour cable news channels.
Recount takes us behind-the-scenes of the respective Gore and Bush campaigns, showing us the conversations, strategies, and debates that emerged in the post-2000 presidential election confusion concerning Florida's electoral votes.
Tom Wilkinson plays Bush team leader, Bush family friend, and former Secretary of State James Baker, a street-smart, no-nonsense, bottom-line politician.
John Hurt plays his counterpart, Gore team leader Warren Christopher. Christopher was also Secretary of State.
At the center of the controversy is Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State and Co-Chair of the Bush Presidential Campaign in Florida.
Laura Dern plays Harris, a woman who must navigate through the pressures of Republican politics, sudden media attention, and jokes about her hair and makeup.
At the heart of Recount is Kevin Spacey, an acting force on stage, film, and television.
Spacey plays Ron Klain, a Gore insider once aced out of his pole position by an internal campaign competitor in the fast track world of presidential campaign politics. Now, Klain is back in the eye of the storm joined by Michael Whouley, a Democratic operative, genius political analyst, and brother-in-arms. Denis Leary plays Whouley.
Recount may take liberties with the behind-closed-doors conversations, but the subject matter is relevant.
And the factual scenario doesn't change.
Gore did concede to Bush, then called back to retract the concession.
And that's when things pretty much started to transition from a snowball to an avalanche.
Protests.
Lawsuits.
And pundits around the clock on CNN and the relatively fledgling cable news channels MSNBC and FOX News Channel. Both channels debuted in 1996, just four years prior to the Bush-Gore presidential contest.
Recount is somewhat nostalgic. Though the events in the story took place less than ten years ago, the time seems like another era.
Since the 2000 presidential election, we've seen...
...the horror of the September 11, 2001 attacks,
...the war in Iraq,
...new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees,
...Must See TV sitcoms losing exalted status to filmed comedies without a laugh track or studio audience -- My Name Is Earl, The Office,
...the first African-American President of the United States,
...and the last of a Clinton wanting to be President of the United States.
Well, maybe not everything changed.
david@davidkrell.com
HBO's 2008 tv-movie Recount dramatizes the events surrounding the controversial Florida votes in the 2000 presidential election.
The docudrama faces an enormous challenge because we viewed the real-life drama day after day on 24-hour cable news channels.
Recount takes us behind-the-scenes of the respective Gore and Bush campaigns, showing us the conversations, strategies, and debates that emerged in the post-2000 presidential election confusion concerning Florida's electoral votes.
Tom Wilkinson plays Bush team leader, Bush family friend, and former Secretary of State James Baker, a street-smart, no-nonsense, bottom-line politician.
John Hurt plays his counterpart, Gore team leader Warren Christopher. Christopher was also Secretary of State.
At the center of the controversy is Katherine Harris, Florida's Secretary of State and Co-Chair of the Bush Presidential Campaign in Florida.
Laura Dern plays Harris, a woman who must navigate through the pressures of Republican politics, sudden media attention, and jokes about her hair and makeup.
At the heart of Recount is Kevin Spacey, an acting force on stage, film, and television.
Spacey plays Ron Klain, a Gore insider once aced out of his pole position by an internal campaign competitor in the fast track world of presidential campaign politics. Now, Klain is back in the eye of the storm joined by Michael Whouley, a Democratic operative, genius political analyst, and brother-in-arms. Denis Leary plays Whouley.
Recount may take liberties with the behind-closed-doors conversations, but the subject matter is relevant.
And the factual scenario doesn't change.
Gore did concede to Bush, then called back to retract the concession.
And that's when things pretty much started to transition from a snowball to an avalanche.
Protests.
Lawsuits.
And pundits around the clock on CNN and the relatively fledgling cable news channels MSNBC and FOX News Channel. Both channels debuted in 1996, just four years prior to the Bush-Gore presidential contest.
Recount is somewhat nostalgic. Though the events in the story took place less than ten years ago, the time seems like another era.
Since the 2000 presidential election, we've seen...
...the horror of the September 11, 2001 attacks,
...the war in Iraq,
...new stadiums for the Mets and Yankees,
...Must See TV sitcoms losing exalted status to filmed comedies without a laugh track or studio audience -- My Name Is Earl, The Office,
...the first African-American President of the United States,
...and the last of a Clinton wanting to be President of the United States.
Well, maybe not everything changed.