Start the Clock — Hardin Becomes the Swing Vote
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
The team moves to the Roosevelt Room where Josh confirms there's no time for another continuing resolution, establishing the hard deadline of midnight.
Josh identifies freshman Democratic Senator Grace Hardin as their key target vote and orders the start of the countdown clock.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Not present; implied oppositional and immovable.
Invoked by Josh as a reliably obstructionist senator who 'never votes to send any money anywhere' — used as a rhetorical foil in the vote calculus.
- • Resist foreign aid spending (inferred)
- • Maintain ideological purity for constituents (inferred)
- • Federal spending on foreign aid is always wrong
- • Consistency in voting record is politically advantageous
Anxious and incandescent — a mix of anger, terrified urgency, and brittle determination that masks fear of institutional embarrassment.
Reads and relays the push-poll numbers, reacts with outrage and urgency, threatens to resign if the administration loses the vote, directs the tally (puts Colorado in 'nay', moves Grace Hardin to 'undecided'), orders staff to find Hardin and to try every option including Cantina and McKenna.
- • Prevent the midnight funding lapse by securing the decisive vote
- • Protect the President's legislative agenda and political standing
- • Execute Leo's strategic plays without letting internal divisions derail the effort
- • Public opinion (even if skewed) will determine political outcomes and therefore must be countered
- • A freshman Democrat like Grace Hardin can and should deliver for the President if pressure and timing are applied
- • Operational execution (his job) is primary; responsibility for outcomes rests with him
Nervous politeness edged with disappointment; eager to help but quickly sidelined by crisis.
Intercepted Josh in the hallway to discuss legislative/inauguration copy; reads his draft and is brusquely corrected and dismissed amid the crisis, absorbing the tone of West Wing urgency and partisanship.
- • Receive meaningful feedback on his copy from senior staff
- • Establish himself as a useful member of the Legislative Section
- • Language and rhetoric matter (Toby values 'poetry')
- • Legislative messaging should be thoughtful, even in crisis
Focused and quietly tense — pragmatic, slightly impatient with the politics but resolutely mobilizing resources.
Identifies the poll as a push poll, confirms Leo's office called, reports that staff are mobilized, and accepts marching orders to find Senator Hardin; acts as the operational conduit between Josh and the junior staff doing phone-and-field work.
- • Locate and secure contact with Senator Hardin or her staff
- • Protect Josh from operational failures and prevent him from taking unnecessary blame
- • Procedural hustle can overcome political obstacles
- • Polls are manipulative but their effects on elected officials are real and must be addressed
Measured and businesslike — focused on damage control and speedy decision-making rather than panic.
Interjects strategically with the crucial question about Grace Hardin, frames the need for a rapid answer if she's a no, and serves as the calm strategic voice prompting Josh's tactical moves.
- • Avoid a drawn-out loss by forcing quick clarity on swing votes
- • Protect the President's political position by minimizing spectacle
- • A fast, decisive outcome (even a fast no) is preferable to agonizing uncertainty
- • Senior staff must direct junior staff clearly in crisis
Not present; functionally a bargaining chip in the staff's calculus.
Mentioned as a Republican whose vote matters for unrelated broadband access bargaining — part of Josh's cross-aisle calculus and negotiation map.
- • Secure policy wins for constituents (inferred)
- • Leverage support for specific priorities like broadband
- • Votes are transactional and can be traded for policy wins
- • Republican votes will demand concessions
Not present in scene; implicitly opposed to the bill.
Referenced by Josh as being placed explicitly into the 'nay' column of the tally — a strategic accounting move to concentrate efforts on the true swing vote.
- • Maintain a no vote position on the funding measure (inferred)
- • Signal ideological consistency to constituents (inferred)
- • Opposition to foreign aid is politically sustainable
- • Voting conservatively on spending is electorally safer
Collective negativity toward foreign aid; essentially angry or suspicious (as presented by the poll).
Acts as the diffuse but powerful presence behind the crisis: the polled public whose negative views on foreign aid create the political imperative driving Josh's actions.
- • Express dissatisfaction with perceived government spending
- • Influence electoral outcomes through opinion
- • Government spends too much on foreign aid
- • Cutting foreign aid is a justifiable response to fiscal concerns
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Roosevelt Room Conference Table functions as the tactical centerpiece: a large digital countdown clock rests on it and is physically activated to begin a 14:20:00 countdown, turning abstract time pressure into a visible, performative deadline that channels panic into action.
The Government Spending Push Poll is the causal trigger for the scramble: Josh reads its numbers aloud, the staff reacts to its 68%/59% findings, and it reframes the policy debate as an electoral emergency rather than a substantive foreign-policy discussion.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The West Wing Hallway serves as a transitional liminal space where Josh brusquely intercepts Will; the brief exchange exposes the human cost of crisis as mentorship and normal work are crushed by immediacy.
Josh's Bullpen Area is where the scene opens and closes around the crisis: phones, staff, and incoming data (the poll) create a command center vibe. It's the operational heart where Josh digests the poll and dispatches Donna to mobilize search teams.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The Democrats are the implied institutional backdrop — their votes and internal loyalties are being tested as Josh tries to hang the outcome on a freshman Democrat. Party unity, expectation of presidential deference, and local politics collide in the vote calculus.
Republicans appear as the opposing bloc whose positions (and possible deals) are part of the negotiation map—McKenna is invoked as an example of transactional vote-trading that complicates Josh’s options.
The Public Opinion Polls organization (as manifested through the push poll) functions as the invisible hand shaping tactical choices: its numbers create the urgency, reframe the debate in electoral terms, and force staff to prioritize perception over detailed policy.
The Legislative Section is represented by Will and by the group's role in drafting and messaging; its routine work is interrupted by emergency vote-counting and it must bend rhetorical priorities to immediate political triage.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Jane Cleery's revelation about the Liberty Foundation poll causing a senator to defect directly leads Josh to discuss the poll's damaging effects with Donna, setting the stage for the legislative crisis."
"Jane Cleery's revelation about the Liberty Foundation poll causing a senator to defect directly leads Josh to discuss the poll's damaging effects with Donna, setting the stage for the legislative crisis."
"Josh's frustration over public opinion against foreign aid mirrors Will's critique of voters' unrealistic expectations, highlighting the theme of public perception vs. policy reality."
"Josh's frustration over public opinion against foreign aid mirrors Will's critique of voters' unrealistic expectations, highlighting the theme of public perception vs. policy reality."
Key Dialogue
"JOSH: I lose this vote... I'm resigning."
"JOSH: They won't do it. Not after two continuing resolutions. This expires at midnight."
"JOSH: Put the senior senator from Colorado in the nay column. Move Grace Hardin to undecided and start the clock."