The Portland Trip
President Bartlet races to Portland aboard Air Force One, where his staff battles a sanctions-evading oil tanker crisis, births a bold education revolution from midnight brainstorming, and Josh clashes with a gay Republican congressman over a discriminatory marriage bill that tests the administration's moral core.
Sirens scream across Andrews Air Force Base as limousines surge toward Air Force One, President Jed Bartlet bundled inside with young Charlie Young, grilling him on the bizarre midnight rendezvous with Assistant Energy Secretary Gerald Wegland. The night pulses with urgency: a Cyprus-flagged tanker, slinking from Iraqi smugglers' haven Qais, defies UN sanctions in the Gulf. Leo McGarry briefs Bartlet amid roaring engines—board the ship, test the oil, fine the company. But profits dwarf penalties, sanctions toothless as a whisper.
Press bus erupts in giggles as C.J. Cregg, Press Secretary exiled for mocking Notre Dame—rival to tomorrow's Michigan foe—announces her reluctant trip, donning a Fighting Irish cap under Bartlet's gleeful orders. She waves sheepishly from the plane stairs, hat perched like a crown of thorns, Bartlet bellowing, 'Let's hit the sky!' Main titles smash.
Back in the White House, Josh Lyman spars with Donna Moss, her stunning red dress—borrowed, destined for return—signaling a rare date with 'great guy' Todd. Josh sabotages ruthlessly: 'You have terrible taste in men.' She storms off, dubbing him 'Deputy Downer.' Leo, divorce papers scorching his desk, fields Josh's worries over Bartlet's fatigue from the long haul.
Aloft at 38,000 feet, Sam Seaborn clutches a mangled education speech draft, writer's block strangling his fire. Toby Ziegler demands revisions, but C.J. reveals premature distribution to press. Panic ignites: 'Get it back!' Sam's prose embarrasses, 'fingerprints all over it.' Bartlet corners C.J. on the tanker—'Make sanctions stick.' She clutches Notre Dame fight song lyrics, fist balled in futile rebellion: 'Go Irish!'
Situation Room crackles: Sudanese captain repels Navy boarders with Kalashnikovs, freight barricades deck. F-18s buzz, warnings crack the night. Leo sighs, 'No way this ends well.'
Ainsley Hayes sweats in her steam-baked office, fan whirring, craving Fresca. Josh meets Congressman Matt Skinner, sharp-suited gay Republican pushing the Marriage Recognition Act—federal shield defining marriage man-woman, states untouched. Ugly floor rhetoric scars: homosexuality likened to kleptomania. Skinner smiles: 'Yes, I am.' Josh reels, arguments flying—public polls, 14th Amendment, Full Faith and Credit. 'It's gay bashing!'
Airborne, Sam and Toby rewrite: oratory must 'blow doors off,' echo Mao's 'permanent revolution'—Toby balks at Communist flair. Bartlet fuels the frenzy: late flights liberate impractical dreams. Charlie scribbles 'send them to college,' sparking tuition incentives for teaching stints in needy schools. '100,000 new teachers!' Toby resists: no funding, union backlash, kids abandoned post-three years. Bartlet pushes: 'Kick it around.'
Donna's date flops—whiskey sours, soup at Phoebe's—lobbyist full of hot air. She consoles Ainsley, probing constitutional notes, hair dye fantasies masking insecurity. Leo dodges Margaret's alcoholic relapse fears, divorce raw.
Tanker boarded, logs dumped overboard. Leo demands Air Force One return. C.J. wrestles press over speech drafts; Danny Concannon toys with her, Michigan loyalty stinging her Notre Dame slight. Toby retrieves it: 'Sam choked hard.'
Josh grills Skinner: 'How can you stay in this party?' Skinner retorts—join NRA to flip it—95% platform alignment trumps sexuality. Escorts clap his shoulder lingeringly; Josh watches, conflicted. Toby phones: Josh urges signing the bill? No—pocket veto.
Descent to Portland: C.J. flip-flops to press—possible education shift, then Toby quashes. Bartlet on phone: confiscate cargo, sell oil, fund anti-smuggling. Leo hedges. Josh pitches veto as symbolic stand, pivot to ENDA. Bartlet erupts: 'It's wrong. We shouldn't define love.' Drawer it goes.
Leo rejects coffee with Josh, homeward bound. Margaret's worry softens: 'You're a good girl.' Bartlet to C.J.: Notre Dame tempted priesthood, Abbey derailed. Final speech lands: pilot program, 100 teachers—not 100,000. Tanker profits mock sanctions; marriage act looms. Wheels screech down Bonneville-3. A start, amid frustrations. Fade to black.
Events in This Episode
The narrative beats that drive the story
The narrative launches with a palpable sense of urgency as President Bartlet's motorcade races toward Air Force One, setting the stage for a tumultuous journey to Portland. Bartlet and young Charlie Young discuss a peculiar midnight meeting request from the Assistant Energy Secretary, a detail that hints at the unusual nature of the impending trip. Simultaneously, Press Secretary C.J. Cregg, exiled to the flight for a playful jab at Notre Dame, announces her reluctant participation, forced to don a Fighting Irish cap under Bartlet's gleeful command, a comedic touch that briefly lightens the mood. However, the true gravity of the situation quickly emerges as Leo McGarry briefs Bartlet on a critical international incident: a Cyprus-flagged tanker, tracked from an Iraqi smugglers' haven, brazenly violates UN sanctions by carrying black-market oil. The existing sanctions are exposed as toothless, with profits from illicit sales dramatically outweighing any fines, presenting a significant moral and strategic challenge for the administration. Bartlet, determined to make a point, forces C.J. into a humiliating photo op with the Notre Dame hat, underscoring his playful but firm authority. The teaser concludes with the plane's ascent, leaving the audience with a blend of lighthearted banter and mounting international tension, establishing the dual nature of the challenges ahead.
At Andrews Air Force Base, amid roaring jet engines, Leo briefs President Bartlet on stopping a Cyprus-flagged tanker from Qais suspected of carrying sanctioned oil, confirming plans to board it. …
After briefing on the tanker crisis, Bartlet spots C.J. and exacts playful revenge for her earlier Notre Dame joke, handing her a Notre Dame cap to wear. C.J. protests, citing …
At Andrews Air Force Base, Bartlet playfully mishears Leo’s update on stopping a sanctions-evading Cyprus-flagged tanker from Qais—briefly injecting levity via a faux Michigan-Notre Dame sports jab—before confirming the boarding …
The narrative launches with President Bartlet's urgent flight to Portland, initially framed by a mysterious midnight meeting and C.J.'s forced penance for a Notre Dame joke. Underlying this lighthearted setup, Leo McGarry reveals a grave international incident: a Cyprus-flagged tanker, suspected of Iraqi oil smuggling, defies UN sanctions. The current system proves toothless, setting a critical challenge for the administration. Simultaneously, back in the White House, Josh Lyman navigates personal and political conflicts. He ruthlessly sabotages Donna Moss's date plans, sparking a sharp exchange, while preparing for a contentious meeting with Congressman Matt Skinner. Skinner, a gay Republican, champions a bill federally defining marriage as between a man and a woman, a stance that deeply conflicts with Josh's values and exposes the hypocrisy within Skinner's own party. The act escalates dramatically as the tanker situation turns violent: the Sudanese captain repels Navy boarders with Kalashnikovs, forcing F-18s to intervene. The act concludes with Leo's grim premonition of disaster, establishing high stakes across all converging storylines.
Margaret enters Leo's office with evident concern over his divorce and alcoholism, relaying an urgent call from President Bartlet. On the phone, Bartlet demands clarity on the tanker's seizure goal …
Margaret enters Leo's office with a concerned gaze, awkwardly referencing his divorce and alcoholism to express worry, but Leo curtly dismisses her to take Bartlet's call on the tanker crisis. …
The second act deepens the personal and political pressures. Leo McGarry, grappling with his divorce papers, fends off Margaret's worries about his sobriety while briefing Bartlet on the volatile tanker situation, where F-18s are poised to act. Bartlet, however, pivots to the stagnant education speech, urging Sam Seaborn and Toby Ziegler to find a 'radical approach.' Sam, frustrated, pushes for 'permanent revolution,' even referencing Mao, as Toby struggles to ground the oratory in practical policy. Meanwhile, Donna's highly anticipated date proves a dismal failure, underscoring Josh's earlier cynicism. She seeks solace, inadvertently touching on Leo's raw divorce. Josh and Congressman Skinner clash further over the Marriage Recognition Act, with Skinner defending it based on public opinion and states' rights, while Josh fiercely argues against the imposition of majority values on minorities, drawing parallels to historical injustices. C.J. faces a losing battle trying to retrieve Sam's flawed speech draft from the press, particularly Danny Concannon, who senses a deeper story. The tanker crisis intensifies as the crew dumps evidence overboard, prompting Leo to demand Air Force One's return. Bartlet, inspired by the 'romantic' notion of late-night flights freeing thought from practicality, encourages Sam and Toby to 'be poets.' Charlie Young's casual scribble, 'send them to college,' sparks a revolutionary idea: tuition incentives for teaching in needy schools. Toby immediately counters with practical objections—funding, union backlash, and potential teacher abandonment—but Bartlet, captivated by the audacious vision, insists they 'kick it around,' propelling the narrative toward an ambitious, yet unformed, policy.
This act plunges deeper into the interwoven crises, with each character facing escalating pressure. Ainsley Hayes toils in her sweltering office, meticulously researching constitutional arguments for Josh regarding the Marriage Recognition Act. Donna, still reeling from her disastrous date, seeks a fleeting connection, questioning her resemblance to Ainsley and suggesting a hair dye, a poignant moment of insecurity amidst the political storm. Josh and Skinner's debate over the marriage bill intensifies, with Skinner invoking Judeo-Christian morality and Josh vehemently countering with the founders' intent to separate church and state. The discussion underscores the devastating implications for gay partners' benefits, revealing the bill's harsh human cost. On Air Force One, C.J. makes another futile attempt to retrieve Sam's initial speech draft, only to be playfully tormented by Danny Concannon, who revels in her discomfort. The core of the act unfolds as Bartlet, Toby, and Sam refine the education speech. Bartlet, drawing on personal history, pushes for the '100,000 new teachers' initiative, fueled by Charlie's 'send them to college' idea, framing it as a national service akin to military enlistment. Toby, ever the pragmatist, relentlessly challenges the proposal, highlighting the immense financial, logistical, and human costs, including union resistance and the risk of teacher abandonment after three years. Despite Toby's persistent objections, Bartlet, invigorated by the audacious concept, insists they continue to 'kick this around,' leaving the ambitious, yet precarious, policy hanging in the balance as the plane climbs higher into the night.
In the Northwest Lobby, two congressmen eagerly await Skinner, who strides up and boldly declares Josh will sign the discriminatory Marriage Recognition Act, sparking jubilant celebration as one asks to …
Skinner confidently assures his waiting colleagues that President Bartlet will sign the discriminatory Marriage Recognition Act, sparking celebratory excitement as he dons his coat. As they exit, a colleague's lingering …
In Josh's bullpen amid the high-stakes night, Donna perches on Ainsley's desk, wistfully reflecting on her high school flute mastery and lamenting that a professional path wouldn't have yielded interesting …
Josh abruptly interrupts Ainsley's work (and Donna's lingering chat), demanding clarity on the Full Faith and Credit Clause. Ainsley crisply explains its mandate for states to honor other states' marriages—like …
Donna urgently summons Josh to a call from Toby on Air Force One. Josh reveals his high-stakes strategy: advising President Bartlet to sign the controversial Marriage Recognition Act despite political …
The final act brings all narrative threads to a head, forcing difficult decisions and revealing character resolve. Josh and Skinner's debate reaches its climax; Skinner reveals the Marriage Recognition Act has veto-proof support, making a pocket veto merely a delay. Josh confronts Skinner's party loyalty, questioning how he can remain with those who spew homophobic rhetoric. Skinner, however, defends his pragmatic approach, advocating for internal change and emphasizing his broader ideological alignment. Josh observes Skinner's interaction with his colleagues, a lingering hand on Skinner's shoulder revealing unspoken tensions. On Air Force One, Toby and Sam continue to battle over the education initiative. Sam pushes to 'float' the '100,000 teachers' idea, but Toby, ever the realist, dismisses it as 'pie in the sky,' highlighting the impracticality and potential abandonment of vulnerable children. Donna, reflecting on her terrible date, finds a moment of connection with Josh, who, in a rare display of warmth, encourages her to buy the red dress. Leo, still dealing with his divorce, receives Bartlet's frustrated directive to make sanctions 'stick' by confiscating the tanker's cargo and selling the oil to fund anti-smuggling efforts, a more aggressive stance than initially planned. C.J. attempts to manage press expectations regarding the education speech, only for Toby to firmly quash any hint of a 'policy shift,' later retrieving Danny's draft through a shared understanding of professional respect. The central conflict culminates as Josh advises Bartlet to pocket veto the Marriage Recognition Act. Bartlet, however, passionately rejects this political maneuver, condemning the bill as 'wrong' and 'gay bashing,' refusing to 'define love.' He opts for a symbolic act of defiance, instructing them to 'put it in a drawer.' Leo, weary but resolute, dismisses Josh's concern about his drinking, declaring his alcoholism needs no 'good reason.' Bartlet, in a moment of unexpected vulnerability, reveals to C.J. his youthful contemplation of priesthood before meeting Abbey. Toby presents the final, scaled-back education plan: a pilot program for '100 teachers' instead of 100,000. Bartlet acknowledges the compromises—the tanker profits, the inevitable marriage act, the small start of the education program—as the plane lands, signaling a bittersweet resolution to a night of intense moral and political battles.
In a phone call from Air Force One's staff cabin, pragmatic Toby probes Josh off-the-cuff about tuition incentives—likely vetting the nascent education revolution amid crises—but the pilot's PA announcement of …
After Toby's interrupted query, Josh and Donna exit the bullpen, bidding brief goodbyes to Ainsley. In the hallway, Donna vents frustration over her disappointing blind date with a pompous insurance …
Frustrated by the futility of mild fines allowing the sanctions-evading tanker to offload its cargo, President Bartlet proposes a proactive escalation during a phone call with Leo: confiscate the 780,000 …
Amid Bartlet's heated phone debate with Leo over seizing the sanctions-evading tanker's oil, C.J. enters and curtly announces, 'We're landing, Mr. President,' compressing the airborne deliberation window. Bartlet sighs in …