Closing the Soft‑Money Loophole — Bartlet's Lobell Deal
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Bartlet negotiates with Max Lobell to secure bipartisan support for FEC nominees, bypassing Congressional gridlock to close the soft-money loophole, demonstrating ruthless political chess.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Professional composure masking a private, amused awkwardness when recognized by Cochran.
Charlie is instructed to sit with Cochran in the Mural Room; he serves as calm, procedural support, trading a minor personal recognition with Cochran (Gramercy club provenance) while deflecting complaints about hierarchy.
- • Stabilize the encounter and prevent escalation
- • Follow the President's orders and manage the principal’s immediate logistics
- • Protect the dignity of the Oval’s operations while dealing with an upset visitor
- • Duty requires calm service regardless of personal feelings
- • Personal histories can surface unexpectedly in political settings
- • Keeping encounters procedural limits damage
Focused and purposeful, carrying a quiet tension; professional urgency mixed with grudging complicity in political maneuvering.
Toby stands beside the President, provides the policy and procedural explanation for how to get to four FEC votes, accepts the President's instruction to 'take care of' opening the fourth seat, then leaves to act on that order.
- • Engineer the vacancy or conversion needed to secure the fourth FEC vote
- • Safeguard the administration's messaging while executing a political fix
- • Protect colleagues and the President from fallout
- • Language and procedural moves can be decisive politically
- • Institutional rules can be used strategically without breaking them
- • He must translate moral aims into concrete political action
Not physically present; represented as an embodiment of the administration's reform agenda.
Patricia Calhoun is named as the second FEC nominee; her candidacy is used by Bartlet to imply a shift in commission votes, making her a bargaining chip though she does not appear in the scene.
- • Secure confirmation to the FEC
- • Implement regulatory changes to limit soft money
- • Regulatory mechanisms can achieve substantive campaign‑finance reform
- • Her nomination will be used politically by the White House
Flustered and aggrieved on the surface, trying to salvage dignity while privately alarmed about career and social standing.
Ken Cochran sits in the Mural Room, visibly shaken; when confronted by the President he is told to resign and nervously wipes his face and hands with a handkerchief while being promised a board seat to make his exit palatable.
- • Minimize personal and professional damage from the scandal
- • Secure a dignified, well‑paid way out (the corporate board offer)
- • Control the narrative about his conduct when explaining to others
- • His social standing and reputation still matter and can be defended
- • A board appointment can neutralize the political cost of scandal
- • Confrontation with the President can still yield concessions if handled correctly
Cautiously opportunistic — conversationally affable but calculating, looking for concrete benefit for his support.
Senator Max Lobell sits in the Roosevelt Room with a large staff, listens to Bartlet’s explanation of the FEC tactic, and pushes for reciprocation—asking plainly 'what do I get in exchange'—positioning himself as the swing legislator who trades votes for returns.
- • Extract concrete concessions or patronage in exchange for supporting the nominations
- • Protect and increase his political leverage in future deal‑making
- • Make a visible gain for his constituents/staff
- • Political support must yield tangible returns
- • Bipartisan deals are possible when mutual interests align
- • The White House needs his confirmation leverage and will bargain
Cooperative and slightly bemused; prepared to oblige despite the oddity of the request.
Ted Mitchell arrives, embraces the President, listens as Bartlet asks him to 'hire a guy'—agreeing, slightly puzzled, to place Cochran on his corporate board as a favor and reputational fix.
- • Help the President manage delicate personnel problems
- • Protect his own corporate board’s reputation while accommodating requests
- • Maintain and strengthen reciprocal ties with the White House
- • Corporate appointments are useful instruments for political problem‑solving
- • Helping the President now will yield future access and influence
- • Some reputational costs are absorbable by the private sector
John Branford Bacon is invoked as one of the two nominees Bartlet has named to fill open FEC seats; though …
Barry Haskell is referenced by Bartlet as an existing sympathizer whose position has been publicly secured ('we took him out …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Ken Cochran's handkerchief is used as a visible, tactile sign of agitation during the Mural Room confrontation: Cochran wipes his face and hands nervously with it after Bartlet demands his resignation, signaling personal embarrassment and a loss of composure that contrasts with Bartlet's coolness.
The White House Portico glass doors function as the physical threshold through which Bartlet, Sam, and Toby enter at scene start; they establish arrival and the movement from public approach into tightly managed inner conversations, framing the sequence of confrontations that follow.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Mural Room stages the private confrontation with Ambassador Cochran — a contained, slightly ceremonial space where Bartlet demands resignation and offers a corporate exit, converting personal scandal into a sanitized personnel shift.
The Oval Office is the scene of the initial damage‑control exchange: Sam is personally admonished and reassured there; Bartlet issues orders that set follow‑up legal and personal interventions in motion, converting private embarrassment into administratively managed remedies.
The White House Portico is the arrival staging area where Bartlet, Toby, and Sam enter, setting the scene's kinetic opening and signaling the shift from the outside world (media pressure) into presidential containment and decision‑making.
The Hallway/Outer Oval Office corridor is the connective tissue — Bartlet moves through it between confrontations, the space compressing momentum and underscoring how quickly private shame is turned into public bargaining.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Sam's frustration about Laurie's past being used against her echoes President Bartlet's later compassionate support for Sam and Laurie."
"Sam's frustration about Laurie's past being used against her echoes President Bartlet's later compassionate support for Sam and Laurie."
"Leo's ambush of Barry Haskel with documented evidence parallels Bartlet's negotiation with Max Lobell, both instances of using leverage to achieve policy objectives."
"Leo's ambush of Barry Haskel with documented evidence parallels Bartlet's negotiation with Max Lobell, both instances of using leverage to achieve policy objectives."
"Leo's ambush of Barry Haskel with documented evidence parallels Bartlet's negotiation with Max Lobell, both instances of using leverage to achieve policy objectives."
Key Dialogue
"BARTLET: "I don't need them. 1978, the FEC voted a regulatory rule that opened the door to soft money. The FEC can close it again with 4 of the 6 votes. We don't need a law.""
"BARTLET: "Max, can I count on your support to confirm my candidates?""
"LOBELL: "And what do I get in exchange?" BARTLET: "The thanks of a grateful President.""