The West Wing presidential election, 2002

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The West Wing title screen

The United States presidential election in 2002 was a fictional event that took place during the third and fourth seasons of the American television program The West Wing.

Incumbent Democratic President Josiah Bartlet of New Hampshire defeated Republican Governor Robert Ritchie of Florida with a 423-115 electoral college victory.

[edit] Nominations

[edit] Democratic Party

Bartlet kisses his wife before officially announcing his candidacy for reelection.

Incumbent President Josiah Bartlet of New Hampshire was the unanimous nominee of the Democratic Party. When Bartlet disclosed to the nation that he hid his multiple sclerosis during the 1998 Presidential Election, it was believed he would not seek reelection as a result of the ensuing scandal. However, during a live press conference on the night of his disclosure in May 2001, some 18 months before the election, he announced in no uncertain terms his intention to seek a second term, saying "Yeah, and I'm gonna win." Indiana Governor Jack Buckland appeared to be considering challenging the President in primary elections, which worried the White House since Buckland was considered more conservative than Bartlet. He was eventually talked out of it by Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in exchange for being named Secretary of Labor in the second Bartlet Administration.

Incumbent Vice President John Hoynes of Texas was renominated as President Bartlet's running mate. Before the election there had been talk of replacing Hoynes with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Percy Fitzwallace or even with White House Chief of Staff Leo McGarry. However, Bartlet himself vetoed the moves, making it clear he wanted Hoynes by writing four words on a piece of paper: "Because I could die."

[edit] Republican Party

The Republican Party had a wide field of candidates to choose from including: Governor Bill Daniel of Nebraska, Senator Dan Kalmbach of Maryland, Senate Majority Leader Jack Moseley of Colorado, Senator Rob O'Rourke of Indiana, Congressman Pete Ross of California, Senator James Simon of Iowa , Governor Jack Stephens of New York, Senator Howard Western of Nevada. Simon was believed to be the favourite at the start of the primary campaign. But it was two-term Governor Robert Ritchie of Florida, who was believed to be the outsider at the start of the race, who came through and won the nomination. Helped by a shock win in the Iowa caucus, and as other candidates dropped out, Ritchie had the race won just after Super Tuesday. Ritchie picked Geoff Heston as his running mate.

[edit] Independent candidates

Despite at least three (Senator Lloyd Russell of Nevada, Indiana Governor Jack Buckland, and Senator Seth Gillette of North Dakota) putting out feelers during his first term, no Democrat challenged Bartlet for the party's nomination. However, two Democrats attempted to launch independent third-party campaigns for the Presidency. Senator Seth Gillette of North Dakota, a left-wing Democrat who had strong support from environmentalist groups and labor unions, threatened to launch a third-party campaign for the Presidency after the President announced the formation of a blue-ribbon commission to study Social Security, but was persuaded not to by being given the chair of that commission; he was also briefly considered as a replacement for Bartlet on the 2002 ticket after the announcement of his MS. Senator Howard Stackhouse of Minnesota, an elderly liberal Democrat (78 in early 2001) noted for conducting a lengthy filibuster of an appropriations bill to secure money for autism research, ran a campaign as an Independent until early October, when he dropped out and endorsed Bartlet.

[edit] General election campaign

The campaign was dogged by criticism of President Bartlet's decision to keep his multiple sclerosis hidden from the public. The President also had to fend off criticism concerning the size of the federal government. Governor Ritchie campaigned on the theme that Bartlet and the Democrats were soft on crime and were too involved in the government.

Ritchie was known for a folksy, down-to-earth style and a simplistic manner of speaking with which he was able to communicate with people, in contrast to the intellectualism of President Bartlet. Bartlet for a time attempted to emulate this behaviour before his advisor Toby Ziegler convinced him to stop, a strategy that ultimately contributed to the result.

The Ritchie campaign agreed to only two debates, while the Bartlet camp wanted five. A decision was handed down that there would be two debates using rules that President Bartlet felt did not allow for true debate. Bartlet wanted real discussion in the debate, so he traded down to a single debate in exchange for effective debate rules that allowed him to engage Ritchie. The debate, held at University of California, San Diego on Wednesday, October 23, 2002, resulted in an overwhelming victory for the President. When Governor Ritchie criticised the federal government superseding the states, President Bartlet replied by saying Florida had taken $12.6 billion from the federal government, and cheekily asking "Can we have it back, please?"

So impressive were the President's debating skills that even Ritchie himself admitted defeat. In the post-debate handshake, Ritchie whispered "It's over," to Bartlet, who replied "You'll be back."

It is not clear whether Bartlet meant "You'll be back" to mean Ritchie would get another shot at the Presidency, or whether he would be re-elected Governor in two years' time. The show never reveals whether he won another term, but it did not list Ritchie among the Republican Presidential candidates four years later. In real life, Governors of Florida are limited to two terms. Bartlet may be telling Ritchie that he might recover from his poor debate performance.

[edit] Election results

In the general election, held on Tuesday, November 5, 2002, Bartlet was successfully re-elected, winning a majority of the popular vote (which he failed to do four years earlier) by a margin of 11.2% and a landslide in the electoral college. In the South, Bartlet won Louisiana, North Carolina, and South Carolina; and made a clean sweep of the Midwest and Plains States, including the Dakotas — but this was contradicted in the 7th season episode "Election Day" in which it was said no Democrat had won North Dakota in a presidential election in forty years but this was contradicted by the 4th season episode "Process Story" when President Bartlet says he is the first Democrat to win the Dakotas in "twenty years". ( The 7th season statement is true to the real world as the last Democrat to win North Dakota was Lyndon Johnson in 1964 which would be 42 years). Bartlet won the state of Maine with 67% of the vote, which he had lost four years before. He also won New Mexico by just 6,000 votes; however he lost two states that he had won in 1998: Georgia(Narrowly) and Florida (Ritchie's home state).

[edit] Results by state

Map of the West Wing 2002 Presidential election results.

With the information we know in terms of which states were won and the total electoral vote, the only possible result on a state-by-state basis is the following. It was shown on an electoral map in the fourth series "Debate Camp" that in the 2002 election The Electoral College totals for each state were based on the real world's 2000 totals.

[edit] Congressional Elections

Bartlet landslide victory also lead to some gains for the Democrats in the House of Representatives. In California's 47th District, six term incumbent Chuck Webb was defeated by the deceased Democratic candidate Horton Wilde.

Horton Wilde (D) - 53,722 - 50.05%

Chuck Webb (R) - 53,610 - 49.95%

[edit] See also

• The West Wing
  • Josiah Bartlet
  • Robert Ritchie
• The West Wing presidential election, 2006
• Timeline skew theories for The West Wing (TV series)

• U.S. presidential primary
• U.S. presidential nominating convention
• U.S. presidential election debates

[edit] Notes

1. ^ The popular vote totals are as of 11:01 PM EST on November 5, 2002. The above results include Bartlet winning North Dakota.