Toby's Drunken Confession of Electoral Futility and Firing
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
A woman engages Toby in conversation, revealing she didn't know Bartlet was running, to which Toby responds with guarded enthusiasm and an invitation to hear him speak.
Toby, when questioned about his success as a political operative, admits he has never won a single election—highlighting his bitter self-awareness amidst looming termination.
Toby abruptly announces his imminent firing, pays his tab, and leaves the bar—abandoning the conversation with stark finality.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Playful amusement shifting to intrigued sympathy
Perched at the bar beside Toby, she probes Bartlet's hidden run with surprise, laughs heartily at his quips, presses his 'professional operative' record across races, nods for detail, questions his early heavy drinking, watches his abrupt departure.
- • Uncover details on Bartlet's stealth campaign
- • Gauge Toby's true competence and backstory
- • Bartlet's run warrants casual interest
- • Toby's candor reveals deeper personal turmoil
Drunken resignation laced with bitter self-awareness and fleeting defiance
Slumped drunk at the bar, cigar clenched, Toby slurs promotion of Bartlet's secret VFW speech, endures long pause before cataloging zero wins from city council to national races, quips bitterly on consistency, confesses firing, finishes drink, pays, grabs coat, and storms out abruptly.
- • Subtly recruit interest in Bartlet's nascent campaign
- • Deflect failure through humor before inevitable exit
- • His political career embodies unbroken losing streak
- • Firing marks absolute professional endpoint
Detached neutrality amid routine service
Behind the counter, bartender routinely asks if Toby wants another round, pours the drink amid the intimate chat, silently facilitates the transaction as Toby pays before leaving.
- • Fulfill customer drink order efficiently
- • Maintain bar operations without intrusion
- • Patron behavior is par for daytime bar course
- • Service precedes personal engagement
significantly mentioned by Toby as secretly running a campaign and scheduled to speak at the VFW hall tonight
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Toby keeps the thick cigar clamped between gritted teeth throughout, drawing drags amid slurred confessions; its lazy smoke curls through tavern gloom, flaring embers punctuate pauses, ash scatters on scarred wood—symbolizing his smoldering cynicism and unraveling facade in this nadir moment.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Toby name-drops the VFW Hall as Bartlet's imminent speech site with free chicken lure, injecting live campaign urgency into bar chat—foreshadowing the rally's gravitational pull on his fate amid winless fugue.
Nashua, NH frames the tavern as grassroots political nerve center; Toby invokes its VFW hall to hook the woman, rooting the stealth campaign in New England grit that later pulls him from despair.
Hank's Tavern's low-ceilinged gloom hosts Toby's raw exchange, scarred counter anchoring intimate banter over drinks; feeble daylight through grimy windows casts shadows on this daytime refuge, amplifying isolation as confessions spill amid fluorescent buzz and liquor haze.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Toby's past disillusionment ('never won an election') contrasts with his present role comforting Ginger, showing his growth into a leader who shoulders others' fears."
"Toby's past disillusionment ('never won an election') contrasts with his present role comforting Ginger, showing his growth into a leader who shoulders others' fears."
Key Dialogue
"WOMAN: "How many elections have you won?""
"TOBY: "...None.""
"WOMAN: "None of them?""
"TOBY: "You gotta be impressed with my consistency.""
"WOMAN: "How come you're drinking so much so early in the day?""
"TOBY: "Cause I'm about to get fired.""