Narrative Web
Location

Bartlet Family Home, Manchester, New Hampshire

President Bartlet and the First Lady plan to fly to their family home in Manchester, New Hampshire, for Christmas, pulling the family together under Secret Service watch. Zoey pushes for Jean-Paul to join the holiday stay there, prompting Bartlet to relent with strict security demands that turn the private retreat into a logistical challenge. Cold New Hampshire snow frames the anticipated gathering, where familial bonds test against presidential constraints.
8 events
8 rich involvements

Detailed Involvements

Events with rich location context

S4E5 · Debate Camp
Map Politics: Ohio for the Race, New Hampshire for the President

New Hampshire functions as the symbolic stake at issue—the President's home state whose potential loss embodies personal humiliation. It is the state staff debate about conceding and messaging centers upon, and it is ultimately reassigned on the map to Ritchie.

Atmosphere

Charged with embarrassment and sentimental weight; staff speak of it in protective, almost familial terms.

Functional Role

Symbolic battleground; personal and reputational asset for the President.

Symbolic Significance

Embodies the tension between personal identity and political expediency—losing it would wound the President's personal narrative.

Discussed at length in C.J.'s long defense of its importance Shown on the touchscreen being changed to Ritchie's designation
S4E5 · Debate Camp
New Hampshire vs. Vulnerable Districts — a Tactical Tug

New Hampshire is invoked as a battleground and the primary location Joey wants prioritized; it exists here as a strategic target rather than a physical setting in the scene, driving the allocation argument about presidential appearances.

Atmosphere

Absent physically but charged politically — perceived as emotionally important and electorally valuable.

Functional Role

Campaign battleground and strategic focal point in the staff's allocation debate.

Symbolic Significance

Represents home-state pride and high-return electoral calculus that competes with party-building imperatives.

Access Restrictions

N/A to the patio scene; politically sensitive and symbolically 'protected' by campaign leadership.

Referred to as President's home state Used as a bargaining chip in allocation discussions
S4E5 · Debate Camp
A Brief Truce — Josh's Interrupting Call

New Hampshire appears as a referenced strategic location: Joey frames it as the target she wants Sam to back and Sam presents it as an ask for the President's time. The state functions narratively as the bargaining chip around which short-term tactical unity is achieved.

Atmosphere

Not physically present; exists in the conversation as contested and emotionally resonant (the President's home-state weight).

Functional Role

Campaign target and strategic consideration serving as a locus for resource-allocation debate.

Symbolic Significance

Represents ties between personal history and political obligation; a place where optics and loyalty complicate pure electoral calculus.

Mentioned verbally as a destination for presidential appearances. Evokes weightier emotional ties (home-state politics) than some other districts.
S4E7 · Election Night
Abbey Deflects; Bartlet Reframes the Stakes

New Hampshire is invoked as the battleground jurisdiction whose local results and ballot measures (including the bond) carry outsized symbolic weight; Bartlet reframes home-state victory versus national duty in this locale's terms.

Atmosphere

Politically charged and competitive (described as a 'dog fight'), lending urgency and dramatic stakes to the Bartlets' responses.

Functional Role

Jurisdictional battleground that amplifies the consequences of the night's returns and frames the political stakes.

Symbolic Significance

Represents the tension between parochial electoral loyalties and national leadership responsibilities.

Access Restrictions

Electoral processes governed by state law, moderators, and polling regulations (implied).

Referenced tight polls and competitive races Mention of state election code and ballot measures
S4E7 · Election Night
Framing the Vote: Country Over State

New Hampshire is the broader jurisdictional frame invoked by questions about state returns and the bond issue; it functions as the battleground whose local results carry symbolic weight for the national contest being discussed.

Atmosphere

Framed as tense and consequential in micro: the 'dog fight' in polls and the pivotal bond vote create an atmosphere of competitive urgency.

Functional Role

Jurisdictional battleground whose electoral outcomes are being rhetorically leveraged by the President and scrutinized by reporters.

Symbolic Significance

Represents local pride and the danger that national success could be hollow without home-state legitimacy.

Polling-place sounds and local voters' applause as immediate sensory cues. Media attention focusing on precinct returns and the bond issue as a concrete policy item.
S4E9 · Swiss Diplomacy
Triplehorn's Ultimatum in the Lobby

New Hampshire is also mentioned as an early primary state where precinct captains are reportedly committed early; its inclusion reinforces the claim of systematic early recruitment across key states.

Atmosphere

Implied competitive early-caucus energy; heightened attention on local organizers.

Functional Role

Another named battleground that substantiates concerns about premature consolidation of delegates.

Symbolic Significance

Represents the traditional small-state crucible where national campaigns are made or broken.

Town-hall style local organizing (implied). Close-knit activist networks influencing early momentum.
S4E9 · Swiss Diplomacy
Leo Takes Charge of the Precinct Crisis

New Hampshire, like Iowa, is identified as a directly affected early primary state where top-level precinct captains received suspicious calls; its mention compounds the scope and urgency, indicating multi-state operational penetration rather than localized noise.

Atmosphere

Tense and politically sensitive — the implication of tampering across early-vote states raises alarm.

Functional Role

Affected constituency and secondary battleground whose operatives were contacted

Symbolic Significance

Signals that the interference is not isolated but targets the early primary apparatus, threatening campaign momentum

Access Restrictions

Targets appear limited to high-level precinct operatives, implying selective penetration

Mention of 'New Hampshire' alongside Iowa to amplify stakes Implication of coordinated targeting across state lines Political timeliness due to New Hampshire's early primary status
S4E11 · Holy Night
Will's Campaign‑Finance Gambit in the Oval

The Bartlet family home in Manchester is referenced as the site of the family Christmas and the destination for Jean‑Paul's suggested visit; it anchors the personal stakes that undercut Oval Office decisions.

Atmosphere

Snowbound, familial, guarded by Secret Service in planning.

Functional Role

Offsite family refuge and the practical stage for holiday security decisions.

Symbolic Significance

Represents the intersection of presidency and family life; a private stage made public by security procedures.

Access Restrictions

Highly restricted during the President's presence; Secret Service protocols apply.

Cold New Hampshire snow as backdrop Logistics (sleeping arrangements, root cellar, guards) emphasize intrusion of security

Events at This Location

Everything that happens here

8
S4E5 · Debate Camp
Map Politics: Ohio for the Race, New Hampshire for the President

Joey pushes a cold, arithmetic decision—reclassify Ohio as winnable and shift scarce ad money—touching off a clash between hard electoral calculus and the President's personal stakes. Toby objects on practical …

S4E5 · Debate Camp
New Hampshire vs. Vulnerable Districts — a Tactical Tug

On the Saybrook patio, amid the elegiac singing of 'Gaudeamus,' Joey presses Sam to prioritize scarce campaign resources for New Hampshire as the highest-return play. Sam pushes back, arguing the …

S4E5 · Debate Camp
A Brief Truce — Josh's Interrupting Call

The patio scene opens on a rare, humanizing beat — staffers singing, Sam and Joey hashing out campaign allocation, and a small, conciliatory victory when Sam agrees to back Joey's …

S4E7 · Election Night
Abbey Deflects; Bartlet Reframes the Stakes

Abbey Bartlet exits the polling booth to applause and uses playful, artful deflection to steer reporters away from her personal ballot toward the broader campaign. Her answers humanize the campaign …

S4E7 · Election Night
Framing the Vote: Country Over State

At a Manchester polling church Abbey Bartlet deflects reporters with practiced wit, shifting attention from her personal ballot to the larger stakes of the day. President Bartlet follows, rhetorically reframing …

S4E9 · Swiss Diplomacy
Triplehorn's Ultimatum in the Lobby

In a terse, escalating hallway confrontation Senator Triplehorn corners Josh and accuses the White House of quietly manufacturing a Hoynes coronation by locking up precinct captains. Triplehorn demands partisan loyalty …

S4E9 · Swiss Diplomacy
Leo Takes Charge of the Precinct Crisis

Josh brings Leo alarming intelligence: dozens of calls to top-tier Iowa and New Hampshire precinct captains are originating from an impossible source (the Flathead River), suggesting organized interference with the …

S4E11 · Holy Night
Will's Campaign‑Finance Gambit in the Oval

On a snowbound Christmas Eve Bartlet returns from an intimate moment with Zoey into the Oval where policy triage continues. Will Bailey, newly anointed and uncomfortably earnest, presses the President …