One Vote Down — Poll Cover and the Quorum Call
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Jane reveals their senator will vote no, citing a damaging Liberty Foundation poll on foreign aid, shocking Josh.
Josh and Jane argue over the validity of the poll and the senator's motives, with Josh accusing the senator of embarrassing the President.
A quorum call interrupts the argument, and Josh storms out after realizing they are one vote down on foreign aid.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Righteously indignant with rising panic — surface fury masking the fear of legislative failure and personal responsibility for the President's political standing.
Josh enters the Republican cloakroom, banters to disarm the room, probes for soft votes, reacts with escalating incredulity and moral outrage when told the senator will vote no because of a poll, accuses the senator of embarrassing the President, and storms out after the quorum buzzer.
- • Find a senator who can be persuaded to switch to pass the foreign aid bill.
- • Protect President Bartlet's political reputation and the administration's legislative agenda.
- • Expose and shame what he sees as cynical, poll-driven cowardice.
- • Prevent the vote from collapsing and buy time to find alternatives.
- • Poll-driven decisions are cowardly and corrupt the moral purpose of governance.
- • The White House and Bartlet deserve loyalty and political protection from senators of their party.
- • Legislative outcomes can and should be engineered through direct, forceful staff intervention.
Not present; represented as vulnerable and potentially humiliated by a late defection.
President Bartlet is invoked repeatedly as the figure whose political standing and agenda are endangered by the senator's impending no vote; he is not present but is the emotional and moral touchstone of Josh's outrage.
- • Pass the foreign aid bill to fulfill administration policy.
- • Maintain political credibility and electoral gains (e.g., Colorado).
- • Successful policy passage is tied to presidential credibility.
- • Campaign and convention gains should translate into legislative support.
Matter-of-fact and quietly defensive; emotionally steady though underpinned by resignation about political realities and consequences.
Jane delivers the news dispassionately: their senator will vote no and a Liberty Foundation poll is providing political cover. She explains constituency concerns, defends her office's decision, and resists Josh's moralizing, staying pragmatic and slightly resigned.
- • Explain the political rationale behind her senator's decision to defuse confrontation.
- • Limit escalation and preserve her senator's position and public cover.
- • Keep procedural and media realities (polls, NYT scrutiny) in focus.
- • Constituent sentiment and media optics determine how senators vote.
- • Her job is to protect her senator's political viability, even at the expense of administration priorities.
Bemused professionalism — mildly amused by Josh's intrusions but ready to enforce procedural norms and protect cloakroom decorum.
The senator's staffer hosts Josh, trades wry banter about cloakroom lore, provides blunt procedural answers about Nearing, and punctuates the scene by announcing the quorum call with a bemused, slightly defensive tone that refocuses the room on Senate procedure.
- • Maintain the cloakroom's order and decorum.
- • Provide factual, useful answers to deflect pressure.
- • Invoke procedure (quorum call) to shift the interaction back to ritual and away from confrontation.
- • Senate procedure and optics matter more than theatrical confrontations.
- • Outside forces like polls shape internal decision-making and must be respected practically.
Not present; portrayed as strategically cautious and requiring policy concessions to be moved.
Herman Morton is invoked as a hypothetical swing vote — Josh asks about him and Jane answers that flipping Morton would require rewriting the education bill, positioning him as transactional leverage rather than an available ally.
- • Protect his policy priorities (education funding) before offering support.
- • Extract concessions in exchange for his vote (implied).
- • Votes are exchanged for tangible policy gains.
- • Education funding is higher priority than this foreign aid question for his support.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Liberty Foundation poll is the catalytic object: Jane cites its imminent release and its specific numbers (68%/59%) as the explicit political cover enabling the senator's no vote. It functions narratively as the outside force that converts private preference into defensible public action.
The quorum call buzzer functions as a procedural interrupt: it audibly cuts off the moral argument, enforces Senate rhythm, and converts private negotiation into immediate official process, precipitating Josh's exit and halting further discussion.
The Foreign Ops (foreign aid) bill is the unstated but omnipresent object around which the conversation orbits; Jane's 'you're one vote down' line reframes the bill's fate, turning chatter into a legislative emergency.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The Republican cloakroom is the intimate battleground where inside politics happens: its cramped space and institutional history allow for candid banter, quick bargaining, and the invocation of procedural devices. It frames the exchange as both ordinary Senate life and a site where outside forces (polls, media) translate into votes.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
The New York Times is invoked as the media arbiter whose scrutiny and coverage give political cover; Jane explicitly says the poll will shield the senator from 'the New York Times people,' making the newspaper an indirect actor that disciplines elected behavior.
The Liberty Foundation operates here as an external power broker: its forthcoming poll supplies the narrative justification for a senator's public 'no' vote. It is not physically present but exerts outsized leverage by reshaping perceived constituent opinion and providing media-friendly cover for political decisions.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Jane Cleery's revelation about the Liberty Foundation poll causing a senator to defect directly leads Josh to discuss the poll's damaging effects with Donna, setting the stage for the legislative crisis."
"Jane Cleery's revelation about the Liberty Foundation poll causing a senator to defect directly leads Josh to discuss the poll's damaging effects with Donna, setting the stage for the legislative crisis."
"Jane Cleery's revelation about the Liberty Foundation poll causing a senator to defect directly leads Josh to discuss the poll's damaging effects with Donna, setting the stage for the legislative crisis."
Key Dialogue
"JANE CLEERY: "The Senator's voting no.""
"STAFFER: "A Liberty Foundation poll...""
"JOSH: "I think this is crap. I think your boss has known about this poll for awhile and he's embarassing the President at the eleventh hour...""
"JANE CLEERY: "You're one vote down on foreign aid.""