Danny Concannon
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| Daniel Concannon | |
|---|---|
 Danny Concannon in the episode Commencement of The West Wing |
|
| First appearance | A Proportional Response |
| Last appearance | Institutional Memory |
| Statistics | |
| Occupation | Senior White House Correspondent from The Washington Post (Season 1-7) |
| Family | A sister (unnamed, unseen) |
| Spouse | C.J. Cregg (by 2008) |
| Children | One in the future with C.J. Cregg |
| Portrayed by | Timothy Busfield |
| Created by | Aaron Sorkin |
Daniel "Danny" Concannon is a fictional White House correspondent for the Washington Post played by Timothy Busfield on the television serial drama The West Wing. Danny first appeared in the third episode of Season 1, "A Proportional Response," where he mentioned that he had been a White House reporter for the past seven years. He is said to have been in step with the Bartlet campaign during the 1998 election.
In addition to having a long-standing on-again/off-again romance with White House Press Secretary turned Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg, Danny appears to be the correspondent who is the most steadfastly supportive of the Bartlet administration, and he appears to have a good friendship with President Josiah Bartlet, Leo McGarry, Charlie Young and, in particular, Josh Lyman as well.
However, Danny was the first to break a few of the more controversial stories that arose in the Bartlet White House, and he has shown a willingness to criticize the Administration if he felt it was appropriate. In his first appearance, he tells C.J. that he knows that Sam Seaborn has a call girl friend, but he decides to drop the story at C.J.'s urging (although he warns her "not everybody is a good guy [like me]," a prediction comes true when a tabloid newspaper publishes the story later that year. Near the end of season one, Danny also recovered a memo written by Mandy, then serving as the White House Media Consultant, that was written while she was working for an opponent--the memo listed Mandy's perceived weaknesses and shortcomings of the Bartlet administration. Even though C.J. asked him not to run with this story either, this time Danny had to file it, straining their relationship briefly (as seen in "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet").
Near the beginning of season 2, Danny was offered a job as an editor at The Washington Post. C.J. was hoping that he would take it, believing that they could never have a real relationship while he was a reporter, but Danny turned the job down. Sometime after this he apparently became a foreign correspondent as he was not seen for all of season three and the first part of season four. He made his return in the episode "Holy Night" of the fourth season, surprising C.J. by dressing up as Santa Claus, but things became very serious when Danny confessed to her he had evidence to suggest the U.S. was behind the death of Abdul Shareef. Danny was investigating the story for most of the fourth season, finally getting enough evidence to file by the end of it. He was persuaded to hold off by Leo McGarry, who cited national security concerns.
Danny won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism; C.J. mentioned in Season 4 that "he won it from the fourth row [of the Press Briefing Room]" and, like President Bartlet, is a graduate of University of Notre Dame. Apparently, he wrote a biography on the First Lady Abbey Bartlet, as in a Season 1 episode the President points out to Danny "You literally wrote the book on my wife."
Danny and C.J. Cregg renew their relationship for good late in season seven; three years later at the dedication of President Bartlet's presidential library they are married and live in Santa Monica, California with their child.
