Seth Gillette
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Seth Gillette is a fictional Democratic U.S. senator from North Dakota, played by Ed Begley, Jr. He was a recurring character on the American television show The West Wing during its second season.
Gillette was first mentioned in the episode "The Drop-In," when the leader of an environmentalist group, angry with a statement on eco-terrorism made by President Josiah Bartlet, threatened to back Gillette in a third party bid for President. At the time, it was not explained who Gillette was.
The senator appeared in the flesh two episodes later in "The War at Home," where it was explained that he was North Dakota's junior senator and that he was "adored by the Left," particularly the environmental movement and organized labor. At that time, Gillette, furious at the President's announcement, made during the State of the Union Address, that he would form a blue ribbon committee to study the future of entitlement programs, met with the White House's Communications Director Toby Ziegler in person to threaten to run against Bartlet over the issue.
In the following episode, "Ellie," Ziegler solved the problem of Gillette's resistance to the committee by placing him on it, a solution that also satisfied the AARP and the AFL-CIO. As Senator Gillette did not want to serve on the committee, and his public refusal would be embarrassing to the President, Ziegler simply announced that Gillette had agreed to be on the committee without asking him.
Gillette was mentioned just once more, in the episode "Two Cathedrals," when Democratic National Committee operatives, reeling over the revelation that the President had concealed his multiple sclerosis, briefly discussed the possibility of backing Gillette's presidential bid, but the idea was quickly quashed. He has not been seen or mentioned since.
It seems likely that the character of Seth Gillette was based largely on real-life Senators Paul Wellstone of Minnesota and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.[citation needed] He also bears a distinct resemblence to the character of Sen. Fred Van Ackerman (D-WY) in Allen Drury's Advise and Consent, which was later made into a film featuring George Grizzard as Van Ackerman.
