The West Wing Mega Democratic Primary

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Noted

Outside of the four original candidates in 2006 (Baker, Hoynes, Russell and Santos) I added to the list following characters for following reasons:

Senate Minority Leader Tripplehorn (openly considered 2006 run as early as 2003)
Senator Gillette (threatened to run a liberal third-party candidacy in 2002 against Bartlet)
Senator Stackhouse (despite his age, I can see him running as a protest candidate again)
Senator Russell (possible moderate hero challenger for Bartlett in 2002, may try again, without an incumbent)
Secretary Berryhill (Bartlet's first choice for VP after Hoynes' resignation)
Secretary Hutchinson (very ambitious member of Bartlet administration)

3 days. Have fun

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Hoynes

My major criticism for TWW is first not exploring, the getting rid off, an interesting character

[Middle-aged Europe]

What, no Bartlet?? Or at least Admiral Fitzwallace (he was considered as Bartlet's running mate back in 2002, after all)?  That's tough, because I can't really see any of these people defeating Vinick under realistic circumstances. Bartlet or Fitzwallace might have.

Fine, I'll vote for Baker then.


(At least I'll use this opportunity to post my favorite Fitzwallace quote, ranting against DADT : "The problem with that is that's what they were saying about me 50 years ago - blacks shouldn't serve with whites. It would disrupt the unit. You know what? It did disrupt the unit. The unit got over it. The unit changed. I'm an admiral in the U.S. Navy and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff... Beat that with a stick.")

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Well, Bartlet is term-limited, remember?

Also, Fitz's dead.

[Middle-aged Europe]

Ah, so we're in 2006?

I originally thought that this taking place in no specific time-frame.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Ah, so we're in 2006?

I originally thought that this taking place in no specific time-frame.

Sorry for not claryfing, OE.

Btw, I'd hesitate to put Bartlet in anyway, because I'm 100% positive he'd win this primary and it would be little boring outcome.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Btw, some rant.

Santon nomination and victory was, in my opinion, the greatest fail of TWW writers. First of all, no way some obscure Congressman would win general election, against such a heavyweight like Vinick, after two years of Democratic administration, no matter how great. If Santon was indeed based on Obama, as suggested by many, come on, would Obama not only win a nomination, but also a general after two terms of President Gore?

Also, if writers wanted to make it somehow plausible, they should have made Santos either freshman Senator, who already gained a national exposure, like Obama did at the 2004 DNC, or, for example, even a first-term Governor of Texas (would be pretty cool, Latino Governor of Texas).

In reality, 2006 primary would resemble 1980 RL GOP primary, a frontrunner (Russell) rather comfortably beating a serious opponent (Hoynes or Baker), with Santos playing Anderson role in the contest.

/rant

[sentinel]

I really like the idea of this, but its obvious that the two people the tv show focused on are going to win.

[California8429]

Baker.

At least we know the candidate more for the deems

[anvi]

Baker.  The series didn't tell us anything about his policy positions, but he is a Senator from a major swing state and, in a realistic electoral scenario (much unlike the one TWW eventually came up with--boy the person who put together their electoral maps in 2002 and 2006 was nuts!), he'll have play in some swing states.

I'll be interested as this goes forward to find out:

--who the nominees will pick as running mates.  Will you decide that, or will there be another round of voting for VP nominees?
--will the sequence of events leading up to the general election (San Andreas nuclear plant meltdown) also happen in your scenario?
--will political demographics in the U.S. more closely resemble real life than those that apparently were assumed by above-mentioned dummies who made the electoral maps for TWW?

Will be fun to see how this plays out!  Thanks for the idea!

[California8429]

Baker.  The series didn't tell us anything about his policy positions, but he is a Senator from a major swing state and, in a realistic electoral scenario (much unlike the one TWW eventually came up with--boy the person who put together their electoral maps in 2002 and 2006 was nuts!), he'll have play in some swing states.

I'll be interested as this goes forward to find out:

--who the nominees will pick as running mates.  Will you decide that, or will there be another round of voting for VP nominees?
--will the sequence of events leading up to the general election (San Andreas nuclear plant meltdown) also happen in your scenario?
--will political demographics in the U.S. more closely resemble real life than those that apparently were assumed by above-mentioned dummies who made the electoral maps for TWW?

Will be fun to see how this plays out!  Thanks for the idea!

I thought he was Governor of PA not Senator?

[anvi]

Yes, you're right--Baker is governor of Pennsylvania.  Thanks,

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Oh great, looking at the results (yes, I screwed up, forgetting to hide votes) we're going to exact repeat

[TomC]

Santos is kewl