Casey Tempts Donna with CapitolScoop's Lucrative Offer
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Donna meets Casey Reed at a bar, revealing she's pressed for time due to upcoming UN speech preparations.
Casey hints at a new opportunity, mentioning the survival of dot-coms and easing pressures for overnight success.
Casey presents Donna with a business card for CapitolScoop.com, proposing a new venture tracking legislation and public policy.
Casey clarifies he wants Donna, not Josh, for the Issues Director role at CapitolScoop.com, emphasizing her qualifications.
Casey slides Donna a note revealing her proposed starting salary, leaving her visibly stunned.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Absent but implied as central to Donna's grueling workload
Josh Lyman invoked repeatedly in conversation as Donna's demanding boss and point man on UN speech bartering, positioned as the source of her power-brokering mastery that Casey covets for CapitolScoop.
- • Lead White House bartering on UN speech expansions
- • Demand Donna's unwavering support amid crisis
- • Relies on Donna's organizational prowess for success
- • White House loyalty supersedes external temptations
Buoyantly confident with playful amusement masking calculated ambition
Casey Reed sits confidently at the bar with Donna, casually transitioning from catch-up chat to bold job pitch; pulls out and hands business card, praises her expertise explicitly, writes salary figure on napkin and slides it over with revelation, chuckling lightly to ease tension.
- • Recruit Donna as full-time Issues Director
- • Leverage their past acquaintance to exploit her White House expertise
- • Donna's experience managing Josh qualifies her uniquely for the role
- • Dot-com opportunities outpace White House drudgery in reward and flexibility
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
Casey pulls the sleek Capitolscoop.com business card from his pocket and hands it directly to Donna, who reads it aloud; it formally introduces the organization and sparks her curiosity about the pitch, serving as the gateway object that elevates casual chat to serious job enticement.
Casey scribbles a six-figure starting salary on a bar napkin and slides it across to Donna, who misreads it as operating budget before shock sets in; this tangible incentive crystallizes the offer's allure, weaponizing financial temptation against her White House devotion.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The dimly lit neighborhood bar provides a hushed, neutral refuge from White House chaos, where Donna steals fleeting minutes for Casey's intimate pitch; its scarred surfaces host the business card handoff and napkin scribble, amplifying the private lure of defection amid clinking glasses.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
CapitolScoop.com emerges as the seductive alternative employer through Casey's fervent pitch, detailed via business card as a tracker of legislation, power profiles, and special interests; positioned as needing Donna's White House-honed insight, it embodies dot-com disruption tempting her defection.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Donna's tempting job offer contrasts with Josh's insecure counteroffer, both exploring themes of loyalty, ambition, and personal worth."
Part of Larger Arcs
Key Dialogue
"CASEY: "No, I don't want Josh. I want you.""
"DONNA: "Well, I... I'm... surprised and I'm flattered, but I'm, you know, not at all qualified.""
"CASEY: "It's your starting salary.""