Debate Camp (The West Wing)

"Debate Camp"
The West Wing episode
Episode no.	Season 4 Episode 70
Directed by	Paris Barclay
Written by	Aaron Sorkin (teleplay) William Sind & Michael Oates Palmer (story)
Production code	175305
Original air date	October 16, 2002
Guest stars
Mary-Louise Parker John Amos Marlee Matlin Kathryn Joosten Kathleen York NiCole Robinson Bill O'Brien Glenn Morshower Thomas Kopache Jeffrey Pierce Bruce French Eyal Podell
Season 4 episodes
September 25, 2002 – May 14, 2003 20 Hours in America, Part I 20 Hours in America, Part II College Kids The Red Mass Debate Camp Game On Election Night Process Stories Swiss Diplomacy Arctic Radar Holy Night Guns Not Butter The Long Goodbye Inauguration, Part I Inauguration Over There The California 47th Red Haven's on Fire Privateers Angel Maintenance Evidence of Things Not Seen Life on Mars Commencement Twenty Five
List of The West Wing episodes

"Debate Camp" is episode 70 of The West Wing.

Plot

As the West Wingers prep for the presidential debates at a North Carolina conference center, with staffers asking questions and Sam playing the role of Governor Ritchie, a vexing question about a failed nomination from very early in the Bartlet Administration leads to flashbacks of the administration's first weeks in office. Among other events around that time:

Toby's marriage to Rep. Andrea Wyatt was about to end, as she was eager to begin trying to start a family but Toby was not comfortable with the idea and kept avoiding discussions and doctors' appointments with the reason/excuse being the ground-running start of the new Administration. In the present, Toby is seeking a reconciliation with his ex-wife, and Sam and Charlie are helping him in the effort to win her back.
C.J. is approached by a journalist who has suggestions for policy that she politely declines, and the journalist then says he will pray for her. C.J. is aghast to find out he represents the Christian Coalition and he's going to pray for her because he thinks she's going to Hell.
Sam is the only senior staffer opposed to the planned nomination of an African-American leader from Florida as the Attorney General, after CJ finds out that the nominee supports racial profiling. Sam cites the candidate saying that he wasn't scared of whites when he heard their footsteps behind him but was scared of African-Americans in the same situation. Sam was overruled and the nomination became a fiasco that lingered after the leader was removed from consideration for the AG job.
President Bartlet is surprised to learn he can have anything he wants loaned to him from the Smithsonian for the White House, and says he wants Apollo 11. Mrs. Landingham tells him he can't have it.

Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force weighs in on the Qumari matter by striking two terrorist camps in-country via F-15s. The terrorists later begin moving a ship full of missile parts towards Qumar, and the President decides to have the Navy intercede and seize the vessel. Joey Lucas reports that the president is likely to lose his home state of New Hampshire. This episode also informs that Toby and Congresswoman Wyatt have been trying to have children for at least 4 years, the length of the first term in office.

Trivia

This is the last episode in which Kathryn Joosten appears in the series as the character Dolores Landingham, the executive secretary to the President who was killed in a car crash at the end of season 2.

External links

The West Wing Episode Guide

The West Wing

Episodes Season 1 Season 2 Season 3 Season 4 Season 5 Season 6 Season 7

Main Characters	Josiah Bartlet Leo McGarry Josh Lyman Toby Ziegler Sam Seaborn C. J. Cregg Charlie Young Donna Moss Abbey Bartlet Will Bailey Matt Santos Arnold Vinick Mandy Hampton Kate Harper Annabeth Schott

Recurring Characters	Oliver Babish Elizabeth Bartlet Ellie Bartlet Zoey Bartlet Danny Concannon Ed and Larry Debbie Fiderer Percy Fitzwallace Amy Gardner Bruno Gianelli Jeff Haffley Ainsley Hayes John Hoynes Dolores Landingham Joey Lucas Nancy McNally Mallory O'Brien Bob Russell Helen Santos Andrea Wyatt

Related articles	Aaron Sorkin Thomas Schlamme John Wells W. G. Snuffy Walden

The West Wing episodes

Season 1	"Pilot" "Post Hoc, Ergo Propter Hoc" "A Proportional Response" "Five Votes Down" "The Crackpots and These Women" "Mr. Willis of Ohio" "The State Dinner" "Enemies" "The Short List" "In Excelsis Deo" "Lord John Marbury" "He Shall, from Time to Time..." "Take out the Trash Day" "Take This Sabbath Day" "Celestial Navigation" "20 Hours in L.A." "The White House Pro-Am" "Six Meetings Before Lunch" "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet" "Mandatory Minimums" "Lies, Damn Lies and Statistics" "What Kind of Day Has It Been"

Season 2	"In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part I" "In the Shadow of Two Gunmen, Part II" "The Midterms" "In this White House" "And It's Surely to Their Credit" "The Lame Duck Congress" "The Portland Trip" "Shibboleth" "Galileo" "Noël" "The Leadership Breakfast" "The Drop-In" "Bartlet's Third State of the Union" "The War at Home" "Ellie" "Somebody's Going to Emergency, Somebody's Going to Jail" "The Stackhouse Filibuster" "17 People" "Bad Moon Rising" "The Fall's Gonna Kill You" "18th and Potomac" "Two Cathedrals"

Season 3	"Isaac and Ishmael" "Manchester Part I" "Manchester Part II" "Ways and Means" "On the Day Before" "War Crimes" "Gone Quiet" "The Indians in the Lobby" "The Women of Qumar" "Bartlet for America" "H. Con-172" "100,000 Airplanes" "The Two Bartlets" "Night Five" "Hartsfield's Landing" "Dead Irish Writers" "The U.S. Poet Laureate" "Stirred" "Enemies Foreign and Domestic" "The Black Vera Wang" "We Killed Yamamoto" "Posse Comitatus"

Season 4	"20 Hours in America, Part I" "20 Hours in America, Part II" "College Kids" "The Red Mass" "Debate Camp" "Game On" "Election Night" "Process Stories" "Swiss Diplomacy" "Arctic Radar" "Holy Night" "Guns Not Butter" "The Long Goodbye" "Inauguration, Part I" "Inauguration: Over There" "The California 47th" "Red Haven's on Fire" "Privateers" "Angel Maintenance" "Evidence of Things Not Seen" "Life on Mars" "Commencement" "Twenty Five"

Season 5	"7A WF 83429" "The Dogs of War" "Jefferson Lives" "Han" "Constituency of One" "Disaster Relief" "Separation of Powers" "Shutdown" "Abu el Banat" "The Stormy Present" "The Benign Prerogative" "Slow News Day" "The Warfare of Genghis Khan" "An Khe" "Full Disclosure" "Eppur Si Muove" "The Supremes" "Access" "Talking Points" "No Exit" "Gaza" "Memorial Day"

Season 6	"NSF Thurmont" "The Birnam Wood" "Third-Day Story" "Liftoff" "The Hubbert Peak" "The Dover Test" "A Change Is Gonna Come" "In the Room" "Impact Winter" "Faith Based Initiative" "Opposition Research" "365 Days" "King Corn" "The Wake Up Call" "Freedonia" "Drought Conditions" "A Good Day" "La Palabra" "Ninety Miles Away" "In God We Trust" "Things Fall Apart" "2162 Votes"

Season 7	"The Ticket" "The Mommy Problem" "Message of the Week" "Mr. Frost" "Here Today" "The Al Smith Dinner" "The Debate" "Undecideds" "The Wedding" "Running Mates" "Internal Displacement" "Duck and Cover" "The Cold" "Two Weeks Out" "Welcome to Wherever You Are" "Election Day" "Election Day Part II" "Requiem" "Transition" "The Last Hurrah" "Institutional Memory" "Tomorrow"