Synopsis[edit]

Leo McGarry (John Spencer) is talking to two Democrats who are convinced that the White House's cover-up of President Bartlet's multiple sclerosis will be a significant obstacle for Democrats in the House seeking re-election. They ask whether the President will seek re-election, but Leo only says that there will be a press conference that night, and that they should watch.


Toby Ziegler (Richard Schiff) is preparing the Mural Room for the President's statement when Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) asks if the President is ready, so soon after Mrs. Landingham's death in a car accident at the end of "18th and Potomac". Toby tells him that they have no choice and despite her funeral, they will be proceeding with the plan to publicly address Bartlet's MS. Toby is offered a 'lifeboat' by way of a job offer, but turns it down in a show of loyalty to the President. C. J. Cregg (Allison Janney) gathers reporters from several news agencies in her office to 'leak' information about the President's disease. Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) gives her a brief for a press briefing about an ongoing tobacco lawsuit, but she tells him that with the story the President is about to reveal, even news about an ongoing diplomatic situation in Haiti will be ignored by the press.


Throughout the day, Bartlet revisits his early memories of Mrs. Landingham (Kirsten Nelson) when she was a secretary at the school where he studied and where his father was headmaster.^[4] In one flashback sequence, she pushes a young Bartlet (Jason Widener) to challenge his father about pay inequality between women and men working at the school.^[5] Mrs. Landingham clearly sees something in Jed, "a boy king ... blessed with inspiration." She comments that if Bartlet won't say anything because he's afraid or can't be bothered, then she doesn't even want to know him. He then puts his hands in his pockets, looks away, and smiles, which Mrs. Landingham understands to mean that he has decided to act, and will talk to his father.


Bartlet and his staff attend Mrs. Landingham's funeral at the National Cathedral. Afterward, a grief-stricken Bartlet remains alone in the cathedral, railing at God in both Latin, and English. He then lights a cigarette, drops it on the cathedral floor, and grinds it under his foot before angrily declaring that he will not run again: "You get Hoynes!".^[6] Later, in the Oval Office, as a pre-season tropical storm rages outside, Bartlet has a vision of Mrs. Landingham (Kathryn Joosten), who tells him that if he isn't going to run because he thinks he won't win or because it will be too hard, she doesn't even want to know him.


Bartlet and his entourage then travel to the State Department to give a press conference on the disclosure of his MS. Shots of the motorcade driving in the rain are intercut with shots in the cathedral, where a janitor finds the extinguished cigarette. Beginning the press conference, Bartlet disregards advice to first call upon a handpicked reporter who will not ask about re-election, choosing instead one who immediately asks if he will seek a second term as president. Bartlet puts his hands in his pockets, looks away, and smiles, indicating his intention to seek re-election.^[6]