Launching the Poll — Wording, Timing, and a Risky Bet
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Josh and Donna argue about the time, with Josh refusing to believe his watch is wrong despite Navy-run clocks showing otherwise.
Toby challenges C.J. about the asymmetry of question six in the poll, sparking a debate on wording precision.
The group moves to the Roosevelt Room where Leo questions the phrasing of the poll's opening statement, leading to more semantic debates.
C.J. asserts the urgency to start the poll despite lingering disagreements, emphasizing the risk of missing the media cycle.
The team shares their predictions for the poll results, with C.J. boldly contradicting the President's expectation of holding steady.
Leo orders Toby to start the phone banks, initiating the poll and ending the debate.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Measured and advisory; less emotional, more consultative.
Ed supplies practical phrasing history—pointing out alternatives such as 'people like yourself'—and participates in the deliberation as a corroborating voice for softer wording.
- • Provide usable alternatives to defuse rhetorical pitfalls.
- • Align the team's language to minimize public misreading.
- • Small phrasing changes can tone down perceived offensiveness.
- • Operational language should aim for clarity and comfort for respondents.
Controlled urgency: outwardly composed, privately pressing for a risky operational window to shape the narrative.
C.J. defends the established polling instrument against linguistic nitpicking, cites the poll's proven track record, and reveals a tactical motive—leaking internals to media—making a pragmatic gamble to meet external deadlines.
- • Get the phone banks started immediately to preserve a media opportunity.
- • Protect the administration's political standing by controlling leak timing.
- • Polling instruments with long use have predictive value and should be trusted.
- • Timing leaks to media is an essential tool for managing public perception.
Irritable and anxious beneath a veneer of professional righteousness; reluctantly pragmatic when ordered to act.
Toby raises the technical objection—'question six is asymmetrical'—argues for linguistic precision, and ultimately executes Leo's order by picking up the phone and initiating the action to start the banks.
- • Preserve rhetorical integrity of the poll questions.
- • Ensure any release is defensible on linguistic and ethical grounds.
- • Language shapes truth and public response; asymmetry matters.
- • Operational orders from leadership must be followed, even if reluctantly.
Casual but nudging—looking for the softest line that will avoid trouble with voters.
Larry weighs softer wording as 'better' for optics and offers an external, PR‑minded perspective, pushing toward a more palatable phrasing to protect perception.
- • Shift language toward softer wording for better public reception.
- • Protect the campaign's relationship with public opinion and donors.
- • Perception management is central to political success.
- • Small wording choices can change headlines and donor reaction.
Practical and measured; prioritizes closure and institutional momentum over theoretical debate.
Leo reads the script aloud, listens to arguments, weighs competing predictions, then decisively ends the debate by ordering Sam to begin the phone banks—translating discussion into executive action.
- • Resolve the argument and move the operation forward.
- • Protect presidential credibility by getting definitive data into circulation.
- • Indecision is more dangerous than imperfect action in political crises.
- • The Chief of Staff must convert debate into executable orders.
Frustrated and flustered; performing irritation to keep control while privately uneasy about reputational risk.
Josh moves through the bullpen, argues specific wording (objecting to 'average people'), glances at his watch, and presses the urgency of the poll while oscillating between irritation and procedural defensiveness.
- • Ensure language in the poll doesn't insult or mislead respondents.
- • Protect the political integrity of the administration's messaging.
- • Precise wording materially affects public perception and policy consequences.
- • Procedural correctness can prevent future political damage.
Implied readiness and responsibility (presence felt as an active node in the communications chain).
Sam is not physically in the room but is the named executor—Toby is ordered to tell Sam to start the banks, making Sam the immediate operational recipient of Leo's instruction and directly affected by the decision.
- • Once notified, to mobilize phone banks and execute the poll launch.
- • Protect the administration by carrying out clear direction quickly.
- • Orders from senior staff must be acted upon immediately.
- • Timely execution can shape media and public perception.
Calmly impatient—annoyed by debate that delays action and determined to move things forward.
Donna acts as the scene's timekeeper and practical anchor: she insists on the wall clock time, corrects Josh gently, shepherds staff movement, and pushes the group toward immediate action.
- • Get the poll started on schedule.
- • Prevent unnecessary argument from blocking operations.
- • Objective time (the wall clock) is the decisive arbiter in operational windows.
- • Operational efficiency prevents political chaos.
Attentive and slightly tense—ready to act but aware of high stakes.
Bonnie is present as operational staff—listening, clarifying logistics, and serving as a background executor ready to staff or support the phone banks once they go live.
- • Support the communications team's operational needs.
- • Translate leadership orders into phone‑bank activity quickly and accurately.
- • Clear orders produce clean execution.
- • Operational readiness matters more than rhetorical argument in this moment.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The phone banks function as the actionable mechanism that converts debate into measurable data: staffed stations standing by to call respondents. The phone banks are the tool Leo activates to make the poll real and to start collecting the numbers that will be leaked and argued over.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Roosevelt Room is the formal meeting place where Leo reads the script, adjudicates the dispute and issues the decisive order to go live; its authority compresses argument into command and converts chatter into institutional action.
C.J.'s office doorway functions as a pressured threshold where staff gather to argue; it's the narrow frame that forces private disagreements into public view and concentrates interpersonal dynamics before the move to the Roosevelt Room.
Josh's bullpen is the kinetic opening space where clock-watching, banter and brisk argument establish the timing pressure; it channels staff to C.J.'s office and then to the Roosevelt Room, functioning as the operational nerve center before the decision moves to institutional command.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's challenge about the asymmetry of question six in the poll leads to the later revelation of divergent expectations about the poll results."
"Toby's challenge about the asymmetry of question six in the poll leads to the later revelation of divergent expectations about the poll results."
Key Dialogue
"TOBY: "Question six is asymmetrical.""
"C.J.: "The President is wrong.""
"LEO: "Toby, tell Sam to start the banks.""