Deploying Josh: The FEC Nominees Gamble
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Josh enters and Leo shifts focus to discussing potential nominees for the Federal Election Commission, revealing their controversial stance on campaign finance reform.
Leo instructs Josh to meet with the leadership's representatives outside the White House, acknowledging the slim chances of success but pushing forward anyway.
Josh questions the feasibility of their plan, and Leo confirms the President's skepticism, yet they agree to proceed despite the odds.
The scene ends with Josh leaving and Leo briefly reflecting on the absurdity of the email issue, underscoring the chaotic environment they operate in.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Obliging and slightly embarrassed; sincere about small duties but unaware of the comedic aggravation she causes.
Margaret explains the origin and propagation of the raisin‑muffin e‑mail, admitting she forwarded it widely; her explanation precipitates Leo's frustrated asides and frames the comic interruption that allows the scene to pivot.
- • Explain and fix the e‑mail problem so Leo can send messages again.
- • Maintain the smooth functioning of office communications and avoid further disruption.
- • Small administrative details (like forwarding an e‑mail) matter and deserve attention.
- • She is responsible for smoothing operational bumps for senior staff.
Controlled professionalism with an undercurrent of wary resignation — he recognizes the political danger and registers that the President (and Leo) don't expect success.
Joshua Lyman stands in Leo's office, names the two FEC nominees, summarizes Patty Calhoun's résumé and policy stance, asks what to do, and accepts Leo's risky instruction to meet the leadership aides offsite over a meal.
- • Convey the nominees' credentials and political liability accurately to senior staff.
- • Extract a clear tactical instruction from Leo about how to proceed.
- • Protect the President's political position while trying to open a path for the nominees.
- • The nominees are politically combustible and will trigger leadership opposition.
- • Informal, face‑to‑face outreach (outside the building) is the only plausible way to soften opposition.
- • The President and senior staff privately doubt the odds of success but must act to preserve principle.
Not present onstage; inferred skeptical and defensive, ready to resist nominations perceived as politically antagonistic.
The Party Leadership Office Aides are named as the audience Josh must reach; they are the immediate targets of Josh's offsite outreach and will evaluate and likely oppose the nominees.
- • Preserve caucus cohesion and oppose nominees they view as politically harmful.
- • Ensure leadership's preferences and control over confirmations are respected.
- • House/Senate leadership must police internal nominations to prevent partisan losses.
- • Face‑to‑face, offsite conversations are where political bargaining happens and can be leveraged (or refused).
Not shown; inferentially at risk and politically controversial as the staff prepares for opposition.
Patricia 'Patty' Calhoun is introduced by Josh as the Heritage‑linked director and an aggressive campaign‑finance reformer; like Bacon, she is not present but is the policy lightning rod prompting the outreach strategy.
- • Obtain confirmation as an FEC member (implied).
- • Use regulatory position to pursue aggressive campaign‑finance reform (implied).
- • A strong reformist will be opposed by party leadership.
- • Her credentials and past O.M.B. service make her both credible and politically combustible.
Not onstage; implied flustered or inadvertently careless for having used reply‑all in a large chain.
Jolene Millman is described as the staffer who 'hit reply' to the forwarded muffin e‑mail, triggering the flood and the mailbox/server problem that interrupts Leo's ability to send mail; she appears only as the proximate cause of the tech/comic glitch.
- • Respond to a forwarded message (routine communication).
- • Engage with colleagues via internal mail (implied).
- • Internal communications are a normal part of liaison work and not politically consequential (miscalculation).
- • Replying to a wide internal list is acceptable in routine contexts.
Lynette is referenced as the originator of the calorie‑count e‑mail from the President's Council on Physical Fitness; she functions as …
John Branford Bacon is named by Josh as a proposed FEC nominee; he is not physically present but is the …
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Leo's office computer is the physical locus of the problem: Leo announces he can't e‑mail and the screen's stalled outgoing mail is the practical reason for the interruption. The device anchors the comic beat and forces a brief administrative exchange that clears the floor for Josh's policy pitch.
Margaret's raisin‑muffin (as the subject of an e‑mail) operates as a comic MacGuffin: its calorie count starts an innocuous thread that, through a reply, bloats into a West Wing e‑mail problem. The muffin itself is symbolic fodder, shrinking institutional dignity and prompting Leo's curt reaction.
The office e‑mail pipeline is the invisible mechanism that turns a benign message into a disruptive flood: forwarded to hundreds, replied to by political liaison, and causing blocked or stalled outgoing mail. It shapes the scene's rhythm by forcing a brief administrative detour before the political decision resumes.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
Leo's private West Wing office is the immediate theatrical container: an intimate, lamp‑lit room where domestic detail (the e‑mail, the raisin muffin joke) collides with blunt strategy. It is where Leo marshals staff, processes petty interruptions, and issues hard political orders that will send Josh into the wider building.
The West Wing (as a broader location) is invoked as the networked environment that received Margaret's forwarded e‑mail and where the political staff operate. It provides context for the scale of the e‑mail problem and the institutional players Josh will have to approach in leadership offices beyond Leo's room.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
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Key Dialogue
"JOSH: John Bacon and Patricia Calhoun."
"LEO: I want you to meet their guys, and I want you to do it outside the building. Do it over a meal."
"JOSH: The President doesn't think we're gonna get anywhere with this, can he?"