The Midterm.

The personal dramas of President Bartlett and his senior staff in this episode of The West Wing revolved around strategy sessions and campaign issues related to mid-term congressional elections. After the season premiere shooting episode two weeks ago, the President, Leo, Toby, Sam, and C.J. were back in their usual high-stress roles at the White House, while Josh attempted to experience as much stress as possible while convalescing from his bullet wound at home.

The show opens with C.J. very stressed and very busy preparing for the daily press briefing. While the press briefing is a daily occurrence in the real West Wing of the White House, the activities portrayed by C.J. probably over-does the level of stress associated with the actual briefing. In the show, C.J. is shown walking to the Press Briefing room through what appears to be miles of busy hallways and offices, before arriving at the Briefing Room. In the real West Wing, the Press Secretary's office is located just a few feet from the Briefing Room, and the halls between the office and the briefing room are quiet, even though the show depicts a busy, active atmosphere full of noises and people. The West Wing is a small, generally quiet place, resembling the offices of a world leader that receives serious guests such as foreign dignitaries, military commanders, and members of congress. The press is actually isolated in the briefing room, which has its own exterior entrance and is actually located between the West Wing and the White House.

Regarding the mid-term congressional elections, the show depicts a President and staff that are fully engaged in the campaign process. In the real West Wing, it is unlikely that the President's White House staff would be so highly involved in the political campaigns. The intense campaign activities portrayed in the show are more likely to take place at political party headquarters such as the Democratic National Committee (DNC) or the Republican National Committee (RNC). Moreover, as President Bartlett correctly pointed out, most campaign activities, and certainly fundraising, is prohibited by law from occurring on public property. Certainly, the scene where Sam is recruiting a congressional candidate in the West Wing and promising financial support from the DNC would, or should, never happen in the real West Wing. More likely, a DNC official would approach the possible candidate and would do so when not on public property.

In reality, this is an issue that all politicians do have to deal with once they are elected. When a person is elected to office, they represent all the people in the jurisdiction that elected them. As evidenced during the current Administration, the use of public property for campaign purposes has been a big issue. The Clinton White House has been accused of using the White House to buy votes through such forums as coffees with the President at the White House and sleepovers in White House bedrooms. Although such activities are questionable, when taking place inside the White House, they probably do not violate the law, because there is strong argument supporting that the White House is also a private residence. That is why President Bartlett insists on making campaign related calls from the residence.

Finally, the show wraps-up with President Bartlett stopping by a White House reception for radio talk-show hosts. When the President enters and begins to speak, he is distracted by a woman who is sitting at a nearby table. The President soon realizes that the woman is a controversial radically conservative radio host who is portrayed as being someone similar to the real life Dr. Laura Schlessinger. The President begins to lecture her about biblical cites in an attempt to discredit her biblical claims for hating such groups as homosexuals (The radio hosts tells the President that homosexuality is wrong based on a biblical reference in the old testament). The President goes out of his way to make the radio host look stupid by citing biblical passages to slavery, working on the Sabbath, planting different crops, and burning a mother for wearing different types of threads in her clothing. The President finally concludes by telling her to stand up because nobody sits in the presence of the President. This simply would never happen. No President would ever lash out at a guest in the White House, no matter how much the President personally disliked the person. President Bartlett was not acting like a democratically elected President, but like a monarch, which represents an institution of government we rejected more than 200 years ago.

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