Left Behind — Motorcade Drives Off
Plot Beats
The narrative micro-steps within this event
Donna urgently warns Josh and Toby about the motorcade's imminent departure, referencing a past incident where staff were left behind.
The motorcade departs without Josh, Toby, and Donna, leaving them stranded in rural Indiana, setting up the episode's main comedic-crisis.
Who Was There
Characters present in this moment
Anxious, exasperated, scrambling to manage both policy credibility and the immediate operational crisis.
Josh alternates between defending the campaign’s schedule and messaging, tries to defuse tension with banter, then recognizes the motorcade leaving and reacts loudly, attempting to regain control of logistics.
- • Keep the campaign on schedule to avoid embarrassment.
- • Mitigate the political fallout of being perceived as out-of-touch with voters.
- • Timely logistics are essential to campaign credibility.
- • There is limited time to turn a field visit into meaningful voter contact.
Not present; invoked as a looming political reality that colors the staff's conversation.
Rob Ritchie is not present but is invoked by Toby as the likely winner in Indiana, framing the political stakes discussed in the field.
- • (Referenced goal) Win competitive Midwestern states like Indiana.
- • Position himself as a viable alternative to Bartlet in rural areas.
- • Rural voters prioritize different issues than the White House’s base.
- • Messaging and perceived competence influence rural electoral outcomes.
Cynical resignation with underlying irritation—careful about truth over spin.
Toby broods and delivers the policy-oriented explanation about the Conference Committee, expresses cynicism about Indiana’s political leanings, and remains terse as the group realizes the motorcade is leaving.
- • Defend the integrity and complexity of the policy process.
- • Explain why simple solutions to farm subsidies are not available.
- • Legislative compromise often yields ambiguous results that benefit well-resourced actors.
- • Indiana’s rural voters are already leaning to the opposition, making persuasion difficult.
Authoritative and focused on the speech; his presence is an imposing scheduling anchor for staff.
President Bartlet is offstage, delivering a speech at the campaign rally; his being 'wrapping up' creates the time pressure that propels the field group’s urgency.
- • Complete the scheduled stump speech and maintain campaign momentum.
- • Project leadership on policy (particularly energy/renewables themes implied elsewhere).
- • Speeches and timing are critical to campaign messaging.
- • Staff must execute logistical plans smoothly to preserve the event’s integrity.
Controlled anxiety—businesslike about the time pressure but visibly worried about consequences.
Donna functions as the logistical voice of urgency—approaches, warns the group that Bartlet is wrapping up, and pushes them to return to the campaign site before the motorcade leaves.
- • Get the team back to the campaign site on schedule.
- • Prevent the embarrassment and operational fallout of being left behind.
- • Campaign timing and mobility cannot be ignored without cost.
- • A small logistical mistake can become a large political problem.
Frustrated and earnest—pleading for recognition while defensive about her livelihood.
Cathy states the concrete economics of her family's 200-acre farm, urges the staff to stay and meet voters, then walks off in frustration when her plea meets policy detachment.
- • Make the campaign staff meet local voters and hear real stories.
- • Humanize the abstract statistics of farm policy with personal detail.
- • Personal stories from farmers will influence campaign messaging and matter politically.
- • Current policy and implementation are failing small farmers materially.
Not emotionally present; functions as a hard-to-translate policy reality frustrating both staff and farmers.
The Conference Committee is invoked by Toby as the institutional actor that tried to increase payment limits but deadlocked on the definition of 'small', shaping the policy argument in the field.
- • Negotiate legislative language that reconciles disparate bill versions.
- • Protect institutional norms of legislative compromise even at political cost.
- • Complex policy definitions are necessary but politically costly.
- • Compromise often produces ambiguous outcomes that frustrate constituents.
Not present; operates as a structural force causing resentment and policy skepticism.
Big Farm Corporations are referenced as the likely beneficiaries of vague subsidy definitions; they are the implied antagonists in Cathy’s plea and Josh’s justification.
- • Profit from subsidy rules and legal ambiguity.
- • Use institutional mechanisms (lawyers, lobbying) to maximize advantage.
- • Ambiguous policy language benefits large, organized interests.
- • Legislative compromise can be gamed to produce corporate profit.
Generally neutral-to-warm; hospitable but representative of real electoral concerns.
Represented by a local woman who points out the motorcade and offers a campaign button, the rural voters are a quiet but tangible presence whose needs Cathy voices.
- • Connect with campaign staff and be acknowledged as constituents.
- • Support the candidate through visible gestures (buttons, pointing out motorcade).
- • Campaigns should meet local voters where they are.
- • Small-town courtesies (buttons, directions) facilitate political engagement.
Objects Involved
Significant items in this scene
The Bartlet campaign plane functions as the temporal anchor for the staff: 'we get on the plane' sets a hard deadline that compresses the field visit. Its schedule turns a policy exchange into a race against departure and motivates Donna's urgency.
Location Details
Places and their significance in this event
The soybean field is the event’s setting: a working, rural landscape that grounds abstract policy in lived experience. It serves as the meeting point for the exchange, a place where national messaging collides with personal hardship and where isolation amplifies the logistical danger of missing the motorcade.
Unionville is referenced as the next scheduled stump stop and the point by which the staff must rejoin the motorcade or get on the plane; it functions as the immediate deadline that frames the characters’ decisions.
The campaign rally stage is off-screen but functionally present as the source of Bartlet’s speech and the site staff must return to; its ongoing program creates the time pressure driving the field group’s panic.
Organizations Involved
Institutional presence and influence
Big Farm Corporations are cited as the likely winners from vague subsidy rules; their presence is structural—an implied antagonist whose legal and financial clout distorts policy outcomes discussed in the field.
Bartlet for America is the operational engine behind the schedule, motorcade, and plane. In this event the organization’s logistical choreography creates the deadline that turns a policy chat into a crisis and exposes vulnerabilities in on-the-ground execution.
The Conference Committee is invoked as the policy body whose compromise attempts shaped the farm-subsidy debate; its inability to define 'small' underpins Toby’s explanation and fuels Cathy’s grievance.
Narrative Connections
How this event relates to others in the story
"Josh's explanation of Toby's tension being due to high blood pressure days is revisited when Donna warns them about the motorcade's departure."
"Josh's explanation of Toby's tension being due to high blood pressure days is revisited when Donna warns them about the motorcade's departure."
"Both beats explore the disconnection between the administration and rural America, first through farming subsidies and later in campaign strategy debates."
"Both beats explore the disconnection between the administration and rural America, first through farming subsidies and later in campaign strategy debates."
Key Dialogue
"TOBY: Indiana's voting for Ritchie. If there was someone less competent than Ritchie on the ballot, that's who Indiana'd be voting for."
"DONNA: He's wrapping up."
"JOSH: Where's the motorcade? Hey, excuse me. Where's the motorcade?"