Original subtitles

Previously on The West Wing:

JOSH: You should be introducing yourself,

talking about your personal narrative.

SANTOS: I don't want to just be

the brown candidate, I want to be the American candidate.

I guess you've seen this problem develop today,

about my going to church.

That's all right; I go enough for both of us.

You saw Vinick on TV this morning.

He was tough and he was authentic.

He was Neil Young to your Neil Diamond.

I like Neil Diamond.

You've been called up for Reserve training.

It won't look like a stunt? We're just following orders.

MAN: Half the press are calling it a stunt.

JOSH: Yeah, but all the press is running the footage.

Nine points. Only nine points down.

( applause )

VINICK: That's why Ray Sullivan and I are working so hard

to take back the White House for the Republican Party.

And with your help, we're gonna do it.

( fanfare plays ) Thank you.

Big Sur is on the move.

Secure Room ready?

Hi. How you doing?

Hi. Good to see you.

How are you? Hi. How are you?

All right.

Santos picked up two points in our tracking poll.

This is the Secure Room, sir.

Perfect. Morning, Senator.

I'm Charles Frost and I'll be handling

your daily intelligence briefings.

Are you with the Agency or the NSC?

Well, actually, I am an Agency employee,

but I have been assigned to the NSC

for the last six months, so, technically, I...

Great. You mind if I multitask?

Go ahead.

Well, there's a situation in Kazakhstan...

He should resign the Senate now

so we can't be forced into any more difficult votes.

He'd be breaking his promise

to California voters to serve his full six-year term.

We've already got enough problems with his voting record.

Hey, I'm proud of my voting record.

Well, most of it.

I'd quit the Senate in a second

if I thought it would help us win.

Now it'll just look like a cheap stunt.

I'm just saying... Forget it.

I'm not quitting the Senate.

We'll just have to turn the Senate

into an advantage.

No Senator has won the presidency since 1960.

There is a reason for that.

Sheila, will you please tell Bruno

when I make a decision,

that's the end of the discussion.

What's the next stop?

Fraternal Order of Police.

It's only a couple of blocks,

but Secret Service wanted us to drive.

Do I give them the stump?

The stump plus.

Plus what?

Homeland Security, the death penalty...

A little extra law and order.

The RNC has a TV ad they want you to approve today.

Leon Montero will have the tape when you arrive.

Are they ever going to stop showing

these shots of Santos in uniform?

That's what I call a stunt.

Yeah? Pretty great stunt.

You're going to be surrounded by uniforms today, too.

Yeah, except I won't be wearing one.

Okay, got to go.

Hey, Leon.

This is Bruno.

Got a spot the RNC wants to run.

ANNOUNCER: In six short years in the House of Representatives,

Congressman Matthew Santos has voted for higher taxes 47 times.

Must be his committee votes

against all the tax cut amendments.

...so it's no surprise that Matt Santos opposes the tax cuts

that Arnold Vinick thinks you deserve.

How much does Matt Santos want to raise your taxes?

Is this all you guys know how to do? Attack ads?

Hey...

Have you seen any of the ads

I've written for this campaign?

Anyone with half a brain...

Leon's not with the RNC. He's one of us.

He ran my California operation for years.

And I don't write TV ads.

I leave that for the people with half a brain.

Have Sheila go over to party headquarters

and tell them again we're not going negative.

Yet.

They get that, they just don't think

you mean they shouldn't go negative either.

The press knows you get to approve party ads.

It's a good ad.

Great ad.

If you're ten points down.

Santos is gaining on us.

Reserve duty sure worked.

You still have a lock on the Electoral College.

A Democrat cannot win without California,

and most of this country cannot imagine Santos as President.

'Cause he's Latino?

Latino, inexperienced--

you take your pick.

You don't need this ad.

Tell the RNC

to shelve this one for now.

But if Santos says one word about my voting record--

just one word-- tell the RNC

to carpet bomb the swing states with that ad.

I got to go kiss some babies.

I'm Arnold Vinick and I approved this message.

Stronger.

I'm Arnold Vinick

and I approved this message.

Softer.

I'm Arnold Vinick

and I'll be the nicest President ever, I promise.

( woman chuckling )

Okay, quiet, quiet. Everybody, quiet.

Please, Senator, once again.

I'm, um...

Arnold Vinick.

Right, thank you, Leon. ( chuckling )

Okay, that's it. Out. Everyone, out of here.

Relax, Bruno. Let them stay.

I'll get it right.

I'm Arnold Vinick

and I approved this message.

Good. One more.

I'm Arnold Vinick and I approved this message.

Wait, one more.

I'm Arnold Vinick and I approved this message.

I think we got it.

Yep, we got it.

When's the meeting with the American Christian Assembly?

We're still working on it.

LEON: They want to do it at their headquarters in Atlanta;

Sheila wants to do it at our headquarters

or on neutral territory.

Maybe in Philadelphia, tomorrow,

after the VFW speech.

CNN just released a new poll.

Oh, a five point lead?

Every poll out there has Santos gaining.

'Cause he put on his old uniform for a weekend.

There's a three point margin of error,

so, really, we could be up by as much as eight.

Margin of error goes both ways.

It could be pretty much a tie.

Senator, does the latest poll indicate

that your opponent is closing in... No time for questions.

Senator, what do you think of Congressman Santos

doing his Reserve duty in the middle of the campaign?

Do you think it was a stunt?

A stunt?

No, that was, that was devotion to duty.

That's what makes the American military

the greatest fighting force in the history of the world.

And I hope Congressman Santos continues to do his duty,

when I'm Commander in Chief.

And I hope Congressman Santos continues to do his duty

when I'm Commander in Chief.

I'll take any sentence that has Santos and "do his duty" in it.

Big mistake.

Vinick should have changed the subject.

MAN: In five...

Think the uniform got to him?

I know it did.

Two...

Oh, no, Bill, of course it wasn't a stunt.

I've always answered my country's call to duty,

and I always will.

SHEILA: You had to do it, didn't you?

Had to take a shot at Santos for getting into that uniform.

I didn't take a shot at him, I praised his service.

Yeah, then you took a shot.

Which you knew the networks would use.

It was a cheap stunt.

Santos could have delayed his Reserve duty

until after the campaign.

Well, your little quip

is keeping the Santos story alive.

He's gonna get another news cycle out of that cheap stunt,

which, if you ask me, was a pretty great stunt.

We need to be setting the agenda for this campaign.

Santos should be chasing me, not the other way around.

Santos is gonna have some good days,

you can't let it get to you.

Sheila, hold on.

Put this thing on speaker.

Go ahead.

We stick to the message of the week--

Homeland Security.

You just got the Fraternal Order of Police endorsement.

You're going to get

the Philadelphia Police Union's endorsement

after the VFW speech tomorrow.

And we're working on getting you

the Houston Police Union's endorsement on Thursday.

Guy was mayor of Houston

and he can't get his own cops' endorsement?

That's got to drive Santos up the wall.

Do they ever endorse a Democrat?

This is going to be a very good week for us, Senator.

Maybe next week we can...

We got to shake this up, now.

This is not business as usual.

Santos got a polling bump from the Reserve thing.

That is gonna disappear.

Santos is not the standard-issue Democratic candidate.

Yeah, he's weaker than a standard-issue

Democratic candidate.

Matt Santos is a lot smarter and tougher than you think.

We gotta take it to him.

We've gotta put Santos in a jam.

We can't just cross our fingers

and hope for the Houston Police Union to do it for us.

First one to go negative is a show of weakness.

I want to knock him off message

without ever mentioning his name.

Look, we can find ways that can surprise him.

VINICK: I don't want to surprise him.

I want to shock him.

How do we do that?

Go to Hawaii?

BRUNO: Take a vacation?

Yeah, that will shock him, all right.

Go to a blue state they don't expect us to compete in.

Make him waste some money and time in Hawaii.

Santos can read that play.

Go after the Latino vote.

( chuckles ): Mm-hmm.

Do...

Do I actually have to say how insane that is?

I've always won

the Latino vote in California.

Why should I give up on that now?

I don't know, let-let-let me think.

Well, maybe because

you're running against a Latino candidate

who's gonna get about...

2,000 perecent of the Latino vote.

Without ever opening his mouth on Latino issues:

immigration, Mexican border issues?

Without ever campaigning in the Latino community?

He's got the Latino community locked up.

What if we just do policy announcements

on Latino issues?

SHEILA: It's a waste of time.

Bruno, if you're the... if you're the Santos campaign,

how would you respond?

I don't know.

That's the whole point. Knock him off his game.

Santos will never know what I'm going to do next.

It's too risky.

We gonna look unpredictable

or are we gonna look desperate?

We're changing the message of the week.

We're canceling Philadelphia. We're gonna...

You can't cancel the VFW!

I am not a veteran of a foreign war.

It's gonna look like I'm playing Santos' game,

surrounding myself with military people.

If you cancel the VFW...

Cancel it.

We'll regroup at headquarters tonight,

plan a new message of the week.

We're taking it to him, starting right now.

JOSH: No, the earliest I can get him back to Cleveland is...

let me see, uh, Tuesday.

No, not tomorrow, next Tuesday.

Yeah, but Pennsylvania is a swing state, too.

It'll take me at least four hours, door-to-door,

to fly the candidate and the traveling press

from Pittsburgh to Cleveland--

I can't do this meeting right now...

VFW says Vinick just canceled tomorrow's speech.

Hold on.

He canceled the VFW?

VFW's offering us the slot, if we want it.

Of course we want it.

I'll get him out of New York early,

have him in Philadelphia by noon.

New CNN poll, Vinick's lead is down to five.

Five? And the Zogby poll

just gave us the lead in Maine.

We got momentum, baby!

We've got the big mo!

Okay, if I drive him to Akron,

can you guarantee me Cleveland press?

Great, that's the plan. ( hangs up phone )

Why would he cancel the VFW?

What is he, sick?

They haven't released their schedule for tomorrow yet.

They can't have anything better to do.

There's nothing better than the VFW,

if you're a Republican. And we got movement

on the debate negotiations.

You mean the negotiations about the negotiations.

Right. The Vinick campaign has agreed to our demand.

No.

Yeah.

They're willing to come here to begin negotiations?

And why is that bad?

'Cause then we don't get to blame them

for dragging their feet on debate negotiations.

DAN: The Zogby poll just came out--

same as CNN.

Josh is going to start pushing the press

to do Santos momentum stories.

He ain't got the big mo yet.

He's got something.

We're losing Maine?

Zogby poll says Santos pulled ahead by two points in Maine.

I don't give a damn what Zogby says,

we change our board when our tracking polls tell us to.

Hang on. Actually, that was...

Our own tracking in Maine now has Santos ahead by three.

SHEILA: George, I'm telling you,

he would love to meet with the reverends, but there's no way

I can pull him off the campaign trail and get him to Atlanta.

Georgia's not a swing state.

He's ahead by 20 points there.

Well, I understand.

The reverends don't want to look like they're begging.

Right, but you have to understand my position here.

Okay, why don't you come over here tonight

and have the meeting for them?

They preserve their dignity,

I preserve my campaign schedule,

and we do a little business.

Great, see you then.

Just got you out of a meeting with the reverends.

( laughs )

Have I told you

how much I love you?

But you're gonna have to do a meeting with George Rohr.

That vicious little...

Geez, I'd rather meet with the entire

American Christian Assembly.

No, you wouldn't.

George is a political professional,

and the reverends follow his advice.

You are going to be very nice to him.

You're the devil, aren't you?

I have the devil running my campaign, don't I?

Okay, what do we got?

We're changing the message of the week to immigration issues.

It's the last thing Santos wants to talk about.

Not just because he's Latino, but also...

Would we be doing this

if he wasn't Latino?

Republicans have been going after

the Latino vote for years now.

You've made a good living

helping them do it.

Press is going to ask if you're doing this

because he's Latino. And the answer is,

these are important national issues

that belong in this campaign.

We're going to have to do

better than that. What's the plan?

Dan.

Day one, tomorrow,

policy announcement:

double the border patrol.

Obviously appeal to our Republican base.

Photo-op in El Paso

at the border crossing, and a photo-op with the Minutemen--

you know, the civilians who are helping patrol the border...

You mean the vigilantes?

They're not hurting anybody.

Bunch of nuts patrolling the border with guns?

Someone's gonna get hurt. BRUNO: Is there a local chapter

of the Klan? Maybe we could do a drop-by.

DAN: The Minutemen have got a lot of national press.

Our base loves them. It's a good photo-op.

Okay.

We finish day one with a dinner speech

to the El Paso Chamber of Commerce.

It's a day of saturation coverage, in Texas,

a must-win state for Santos.

Next. Day two. Policy announcement:

The Vinick Guest Worker Program.

Legal status for illegals already here

doing jobs Americans don't want.

Okay, this I like.

Good crossover appeal for Democrats

and Independents.

Especially if we sell it

as part of our "Sensible Solutions" theme.

We haven't got the events for this one worked out yet.

Probably just a speech, not sure where.

SHEILA: You can do it anywhere.

Point is we get it out there and force Santos to respond.

Because he's Latino. Look, we're not...

The Latino community's gonna know what you're doing.

It's got to be more than just a speech.

Like?

Introduce a bill.

In the Senate?

I still have a job there, don't I?

It's a good way to turn the Senate into an advantage.

Leon, take the speech over to leg counsel's office

and have them turn it into legislative language.

The details are up to you.

Just make sure it really is one of our "Sensible Solutions."

Sheila, start working on getting me co-sponsors

and a hearing date.

What's day three?

Central American Free Trade Agreement.

That's old news.

We passed that, we passed that months ago.

Santos has a problem with it.

What, did he split with the Democrats on that?

SHEILA: Worse.

He split with himself.

Voted for it in committee,

then voted against it on the floor.

( laughs )

After the day in Texas, we gotta get him back to DC

to introduce the guest worker bill.

That way, we can keep the afternoon

and evening schedule we have in Ohio.

Just add the Border Patrol and guest worker stuff to the stump.

I'm going to need him back in the studio for another TV spot.

I can give him to you for an hour on Friday morning.

George Rohr is here, waiting in the conference room.

Let's go.

Hey, George!

How you doing?

Hey, good to see you, Dan.

Gee, you look great! Private sector's

been good to you. Private sector?

Is that what you guys call religion?

I mean not working with the Speaker anymore,

not stuck in the Capitol all night,

listening to the wit and wisdom of the House of Representatives.

I do thank God for that.

( chuckles )

( knocking )

George Rohr is here.

If I win this election,

George Rohr never sets foot in the White House.

You got that?

I mean, not even a tour.

SHEILA: George is gonna try to jam you on judges.

You got to be receptive but noncommittal.

"I would certainly welcome

your input on judicial appointments,"

blah-blah-blah.

Hey, George, great to see you.

Good to see you, Senator. Sorry I couldn't

make it to Atlanta to meet with the full group,

but this campaign schedule is just so tight.

You try to change

just one hour of it,

and the whole thing comes apart. I understand.

We appreciate you

taking the time.

Why don't we clear out the staff,

so George and I can talk alone.

Can I get you anything?

I think we might have a couple of slices of pepperoni here.

I'm good.

So what's up, George?

Well, as you can imagine,

the Council is very, very concerned about...

( laughing ): Oh, sorry.

The campaign's the only excuse left

for someone my age to eat junk food.

Please, go ahead, I'm listening.

The Council's just plain

worried about judges, Senator.

The reverends are all afraid

of the kind of judges you'd appoint.

( clears throat )

We're gonna need a guarantee on judges, we're...

George, when I'm President,

I'm going to be very eager for input

from you and the group on judicial nominations.

I'm going to make the Vice President

my point man on judges.

You know Ray Sullivan.

A great man; great governor; gonna make a great VP.

And you know that Ray shares your views on everything

that's important to your organization.

You mean to my religion.

Yeah.

( sighs )

We're not worried about Ray Sullivan.

We're worried about you.

Ray likes the judges you like.

And I'm going to rely on Ray's recommendations.

A pro-life VP making recommendations

isn't enough, Senator.

We need you to commit

to appointing pro-life judges.

Look, Santos voted for partial-birth abortion;

at least I'm with you on that.

Reverend Butler and the others think that just means

that Santos wants to kill

a few hundred more babies a year than you do.

You think I want to kill babies, George?

Senator...

Santos is closing the gap with you.

If our voters stay at home, you lose.

I came here to tell you how to get our voters.

I came here to help you.

Okay.

Can we speak confidentially?

Okay, can you hear me now?

( indistinct radio transmission )

Oh, okay, go ahead.

All right, thanks.

Santos picked up another point in our tracking poll.

We're down to a four-point lead. If that.

VINICK: That's why I want to double the Border Patrol,

double the manpower down here.

Give you guys what you need to get the job done.

The easiest way for a terrorist to get into this country

is to cross this border.

This isn't just an immigration issue,

this is a Homeland Security issue.

We have to get control of our borders.

( reporters clamoring )

Hey, Vinick just proposed doubling the Border Patrol

at the Mexican border. Any comment?

No, I was not surprised the Santos VFW speech

was interrupted by applause 18 times.

Matt Santos is a combat veteran who understands...

Vinick says the border is a security issue--

gotta stop Al Qaeda at the Rio Grande.

I'll get back to you on that.

Really? No.

Vinick's proposing doubling the Border Patrol.

Hmm.

How's Vinick gonna pay for it, if he's cutting taxes?

Save it for the debates.

Don't fan that flame today.

You need to keep chipping away at Vinick's lead

on national security issues. He might as well

be saying, "Elect a Latino, and there'll be

a Mexican family sleeping on your front lawn."

Don't let him get to you.

That's easy for you to say.

Yeah. You ready for

the one-on-ones? Yep.

We picked up another point in our tracking.

Story of the day: momentum, momentum, momentum.

Come on in, Ellen.

This is Ellen Trayers of the Boston Globe.

Hi, Ellen.

Have a seat.

ELLEN: Senator Vinick wants to double the Border Patrol.

Do you think that will

stop illegal immigration?

Every poll shows us closing the gap, gaining momentum.

So, suddenly, you're going to hear

all sorts of new proposals from the other side.

But what the American people are going to hear from me

is a consistent message on national security.

I told the VFW today, keeping this country safe

is my top priority, and I intend on sticking to that.

Thought you had to get over to Santos headquarters

for debate negotiations.

You gotta see this.

Get me the Senator.

( phone ringing )

Sheila.

Yeah.

Just a heads up: crazy Internet thing.

Drudge is reporting that "sources close

to the American Christian Assembly"

say you promised them approval of judges.

I got the Minutemen waiting for me here.

Can we talk about this later?

Problem is,

the press takes Drudge very seriously.

So we have to issue a denial.

We'll put out something on paper from here.

Keep it low-key.

Hold off on that denial.

You didn't promise them anything, did you?

We'll talk about this later.

What'd he say?

Nothing.

We've got a problem, right?

Hi. Good to see you.

How are you? Hi, how you doing?

It's an honor, Senator. Appreciate your coming.

What's your name? Harley Parker.

Have you caught anybody yet, Harley?

Well, there's a lot of publicity about us being out here,

so, you know, they're...

they're probably gonna find another spot to cross.

Yeah, that's why we got to get tough about this.

Senator, are you saying the Minutemen should get tough

with the illegals?

We've got a 2,000-mile border here,

and most of it is unprotected most of the time.

We can't have real homeland security

if we can't secure our borders.

Senator, the Border Patrol has asked the Minutemen

to stop operations.

Why do you support the Minutemen?

I understand why the Minutemen are here.

I understand their frustration, and I share their goals.

But I agree with the Border Patrol.

We should leave law enforcement to the professionals.

The Minutemen are showing you

why we need to double the Border Patrol.

What you see here today is going to continue,

if the government fails to police this border.

We're going to have more and more vigilantes coming here

to do it themselves, and that's not the American way.

( reporters clamoring )

SANTOS: This is a great example

of how we can strengthen national security

and strengthen our economy at the same time.

The Air Force urgently needs more C-17s,

and the American workers are ready, willing,

and able to do the job, so...

Senator Vinick says the Minutemen

patrolling the Mexican border are vigilantes.

Do you agree?

Ellen, I'm here to see the job

that these workers are doing for America.

How they're doing their part for the economy

and for national security.

Congressman, do you think they're vigilantes?

The C-17 is our most advanced military cargo plane.

It's able to...

Congressman, you're from a border state.

What do you think we need to do to secure the border?

I don't see how you can afford

to double the Border Patrol budget

if you're going to cut taxes.

WOMAN: So, doubling the Border Patrol is

a good idea that we just can't afford?

Doubling the Border Patrol is not going to solve the problem.

Congressman, do you agree with Senator Vinick

that Minutemen are vigilantes?

Yes, I do.

We got a problem.

He agreed with Vinick?

We're ready in the conference room.

Okay, try to keep him on message.

I got to go.

Vinick's killing our VFW coverage

with his Mexican border junk.

They sent Bruno.

WOMAN ( on TV ): In a surprising development...

Of course they did.

...in a day of campaigning on the Mexican border,

Arnold Vinick said that civilians

who have been patrolling the border are vigilantes.

Matt Santos then agreed with Senator Vinick.

What are you doing here?

I believe the agenda is debate negotiations.

JOSH: I mean, what are you doing here

representing a Republican candidate?

Great guy.

You'd love him.

Come on, he's a Republican!

I noticed that.

So, you switched parties?

Just this once.

Career on the slide,

figure you'd grab a few headlines

by signing up with the enemy?

Taking a salary or a percentage of the ad buy?

I made so much money on your campaigns,

I might just do this one for free.

Whenever you're ready.

BRUNO: We had a very

productive meeting.

REPORTER: Did you agree on a format?

No.

REPORTER 2: Did you agree on dates?

No.

Did you agree on the number of debates?

No.

How many debates is the Vinick campaign proposing?

We think one's enough to highlight the differences

between the candidates,

especially since they seem to agree on so much.

Thank you very much.

He came here so he could hold a press conference

at our front door.

Pretend there's no difference between Santos and Vinick.

Slimy, sleazy,

back-stabbing, mother...

You got any new numbers yet?

BRUNO: We've moved up three points on the tracking.

We're ahead by seven.

The Border Patrol thing worked with conservatives,

the vigilante thing worked with liberals.

Did you know he was going to call them vigilantes?

I had no idea.

Thought it was going to be a day

of red meat for conservatives;

he pulls a little something out of the hat for libs.

Amazing. What did he say about the pro-life judges thing?

He keeps avoiding the subject with me.

I'm going to try and corner him about it after this thing.

Yeah, well, it's page one of the Atlanta Constitutiontoday,

so...

Good morning.

I've returned to the Senate today to introduce S.1103,

a bill to establish a guest worker visa

for farm workers and other minimum wage workers...

Guest worker program?!

This guy's unbelievable.

...not eligible for work visas.

This is a sensible solution to a problem

that we have to face honestly.

There are currently at least

ten million illegal immigrants in this country,

most of whom are doing a hard day's work

at low-paying jobs that Americans don't want.

( phone ringing )

It is time for us to create a legal system of...

( clears throat ): Yeah?

...Aerospace workers who have delivered 250...

Hey, I just got a question about a guest worker program

for illegals Vinick's going to propose.

He's introducing a bill in the Senate right now.

Sounds like he's coming at us from the left today.

Only problem is, when the Congressman hears about it,

he's gonna want to be a cosponsor of Vinick's bill.

SANTOS: You know, I introduced

a guest worker program

the first year I was in Congress.

I couldn't even get a hearing on it.

Vinick opens his mouth about it once,

it's like he's parting the Red Sea.

But if you agree with it, you're gonna look

like a follower, not a leader.

Well, he's the one that's following me on this one.

It won't look like it; not now.

We can't be chasing reporters around with a six-year-old page

from the Congressional Record to prove you got there first.

Yeah, well, I shouldn't have been hiding on these issues.

I didn't want to be the brown candidate.

I didn't want to be stereotyped.

Josh was right.

I should have gotten out in front on all this stuff

during the primaries.

You were great in the primaries.

You won the nomination.

Lou, I shut up on Latino issues and gave Vinick this opening.

Vinick is gonna have some good days.

We're giving him too many good days.

Senator, you went hard right yesterday

with your Border Patrol idea, and you managed to

throw a bone to the left with the vigilantes comment.

Today you went hard left with an amnesty program

for illegal aliens.

You're obviously trying to trip up the Santos campaign

with this zigzag, but don't you run the risk

of confusing the voters about where you stand?

Oh, I've made it very clear where I stand, Chris.

Enforcement first.

That's what we have to do at the border.

Stop illegal immigration and keep the terrorists out.

And then, once we've secured the border,

we have to deal with the illegal immigrants

who are already here, putting in an honest day's work,

doing the... doing the jobs we need them to do.

Perfect.

MATTHEWS: Senator, where have you been

on these Border Patrol issues?

Why haven't you talked about the Border Patrol budget before?

Why haven't you come up with a guest worker program before?

Aren't you suddenly leaning on these Mexican border issues

because your opponent is Latino,

and you figure he can't talk tough

about the border patrol

or risk saying anything that sounds like amnesty

for illegals?

Yeah, welcome to Hardball, Arnie.

I think I counted

five questions that time, Chris.

Vinick's on the ropes now.

Come on, Senator, you're trying to jam Santos, right?

Come on, Chris, baby, keep slugging.

I'm from California; I've lived with these problems

for a long time, and I've worked hard

on them in the Senate.

But a Senator can only do so much.

I want to be President

because these are the kinds of problems

that Presidential leadership can solve.

Senator, we're running out of time, but I want to ask you

about the story that you have secretly pledged

to appoint pro-life judges.

Is that true?

VINICK: Well, Chris, the selection of federal judges

and Supreme Court justices is

one of the most important Presidential powers.

And I hope to have a broad range of input

and advice on my judicial appointments,

especially from my Vice President, Ray Sullivan,

who, as a former federal prosecutor...

Senator, we're out of time.

Will you appoint pro-life judges?

Chris, the founding fathers could have written a litmus test

for judges into the Constitution,

but they chose not to, so I don't think

the President should impose a litmus test for...

All right, okay, no litmus test for judges.

That's all the time we have.

Thank you, Senator Vinick.

VINICK: Thank you, Chris.

( knocking on door )

Yeah?

Morning.

What are you doing here?

Just thought I'd see what it's like out on the road.

The candidate's exhausted.

Yeah, well, I'll see what I can do about that.

Mm-hmm.

Lou called you here so you guys could double-team me, huh?

Keep me on message?

Actually, we were hoping to tweak the message

a little bit today, by adding a couple of paragraphs

about the Supreme Court to the stump.

The next President's probably going to put

a couple of judges on the Court--

women's right to choose is at stake, stuff like that.

The more you talk about the Court,

the more the press will hammer Vinick on the judges rumor.

You actually think he'd promise the reverends pro-life judges?

I think he wants to win.

'Cause I... I can't believe he'd go that far.

Yeah, well, we'll use the story to put pressure on Vinick.

Get the press to jam him with questions about the judges,

instead of him jamming us with questions about the border.

He's killing me on that stuff.

I have to find ways to challenge him on it.

First, we have to put him on the defensive about the judges,

so we can get control of our message again.

We've been scoring on national security.

We can get the momentum back if we...

Stay on message.

If someone goes on the record and says that Vinick

promised pro-life judges, the story's gonna explode.

We'll be in the driver's seat.

The New York Times loves your guest worker program.

I think we might have a shot at an endorsement.

Kiss of death for a conservative.

New York has 31 electoral votes.

DAN: I'm just sayin'...

Leon, do you have the talking points on CAFTA?

SHEILA: George Rohr called me before breakfast today.

Watched you on Hardball last night.

Thinks you two need to have a clarifying meeting.

Let Ray Sullivan talk to him.

He knows how to talk to those people.

"Those people" can take this election

away from you, so you'd better...

I can't meet with him again.

Well, he somehow got the idea that you promised him

approval of judges.

That's because I did.

You promised them judges?

Yeah.

I lied.

You lied?

Yeah, so did George Rohr.

He promised to keep it secret

and then the first thing he does is leak it to Drudge.

You lied to George?

I lied to a liar.

Miserable little...

He's what's wrong with this party.

He's the problem, not me!

Geez...

Tell that lying little creep the United States Senate

gets to advise and consent on judges, not the clergy.

If his gang wants to have a say in picking judges,

tell him to run for the Senate.

Are you done?

Yeah. You?

Oh, yeah.

I was just trying to get through the meeting.

He had me cornered, so I figured,

what the hell, tell him what he wants to hear

and then ignore him when I'm in the White House.

If you had checked with me,

I would have told you that wouldn't work.

That he would leak it

and then you'd be forced to confirm or deny.

Either of which would hurt us

with a very large block of voters!

I thought you said you were done.

I lied.

Looks like it's time to call Ray Sullivan out of the bullpen.

VINICK: Today, I am introducing a sense of the Senate resolution,

urging the President to expedite implementation

of the Central American Free Trade Agreement,

because it is an essential component

to securing the Mexican border.

Increasing trade with Central America is good for our economy,

and it's good for their economies.

More jobs in Central America

means less illegal immigration in this country.

It's that simple.

Senator! Senator!

Were you trying to highlight your support for CAFTA

because Congressman Santos voted against it?

He did? I thought he voted for it.

I'm not sure how he voted.

You can check on that.

I certainly was surprised that so many Democrats in the House

voted against helping impoverished

Central American countries to build their economies,

especially when it's good for our economy, too.

Senator, did you promise the American

Christian Assembly you would appoint pro-life judges?

This is the Senate press briefing room.

This isn't the place for campaign questions. Next.

( reporters shouting )

VINICK: Yes, in the back.

JOSH: Probably going to get a question about CAFTA.

Because Vinick just said something about CAFTA?

Still, we should... Damn, he's good.

Let's not play Vinick's game on CAFTA.

Voters don't care about it.

Okay, let's do it.

I get some sleep after this, right?

Two hours. I promise.

Ted Zukoski, Chicago Tribune.

Ted. Hi.

Sit down, Ted.

Thank you.

Congressman... uh, today, Senator Vinick

said that he was surprised that so many Democrats

had voted against CAFTA-- now, do you think...

International trade agreements are an important component

of our long-term national security planning,

because nations who buy from each other,

usually don't shoot at each other.

Which is why our trade relationships with China

are every bit as important to our national security...

Now, why did you vote against CAFTA?

It was a complicated bill.

Well, Senator Vinick says that the more jobs there are

in Central America, the fewer people

will try to get into the U.S. illegally.

That's true. Look, I am for free trade,

I'm for fair trade,

but CAFTA was not a fair deal for us or for Central America.

Are you saying that CAFTA won't help Central America at all?

Of course it will, but not as much as it could have.

Look, I voted for CAFTA before I voted against it.

I voted for it in committee, when it was a good bill.

And then the special interests started hacking away at it,

and it was a mess by the time it got to the floor,

so I... I voted against it.

We have to let him loose on CAFTA.

Get him into a town hall setting,

let him explain his thinking to real people, not reporters.

The press is never going to let him explain voting for it

and then voting against it, so we're going to have to...

We just got our tracking.

How bad?

Got Vinick up by 12.

( heavy sigh )

Hey. Hey.

I hear Vinick's tracking has him up by ten.

That's not what we have.

George, great to see you.

Good to see you, Governor.

I don't know why they bother to keep giving me hotel rooms.

This campaign doesn't let the VP candidate actually sleep.

Coffee?

No, thanks.

We've got a serious problem.

George, I understand why you'd like the Senator

to make a public commitment on judges,

but you've never asked a nominee to do that before.

We've never had a pro-choice nominee before.

He's got to give us a reason to support him.

And that reason is sittin' right here.

All due respect, Governor, but that's not enough.

Now, he promises me he'll appoint pro-life judges.

I tell the reverends that,

and then I see him on TV doing the "no litmus test" bit.

He humiliated me.

Some of our people are begging me

to release a statement saying he lied to me.

And I'm asking you not to do that,

as a personal favor to me.

This is bigger than that.

Nothing's bigger than personal favors; not to me.

You're looking at the next Vice President

or the next front-runner

for the Republican nomination for President.

You want to be my friend, George, believe me.

Being my friend is a lot better than being my enemy.

We have no problem with you, Governor.

( sighs )

You've been promised a lot of things

by a lot of politicians over the years.

How many of them have ever come through for you?

Not a lot.

You want Arnie Vinick

to listen to you about judges,

threatening him isn't gonna work.

He already told you who he's going to listen to-- me.

You already know what kind of judges I want.

You seen the judges I've appointed as governor.

You've approved every one of them.

Now you got a choice.

You can cause trouble for us,

and it'll just help elect Matt Santos and Leo McGarry,

or you can be a team player-- the Vinick/Sullivan team.

And I'll make sure President Vinick

listens to you and me about judges.

I appreciate you coming, George.

I really do.

If anyone in your group

has a problem with the Vinick/Sullivan ticket,

I will sit down with them anywhere,

anytime, and talk it through.

( laughs gently )

You know what the worst thing about the campaign trail is?

Surprises.

I don't want any.

You got that?

Senator?

I'm going back to DC tonight.

What's this?

It's my letter of resignation. What?

Yeah, the letter is to thank you for everything,

from when I started in the mailroom, to...

What's this about?

What, problems with Bruno?

I need to spend some more time with my family.

Leon, come on.

I never thought it was going to be Santos.

He didn't have a chance at the nomination.

Now we're three weeks into this and I can't do it.

I can't be working all day and night

to beat the first Latino nominee for President.

And now that we're using his heritage against him...

That's not what I'm doing. I'm talking policy.

That's fair. Please, Senator.

I was in the meeting.

If Santos is afraid to lead the country on these issues,

then he doesn't deserve to be President.

The voters have a right to hear from the Latino candidate

about Latino issues.

He ought to be way out ahead of me on this stuff.

The twins are two and a half now.

My mother-in-law just taught them

how to say the word "Santos."

Someday, they're going to ask me

what I did on this campaign.

I can't tell them I did this.

Can't do it.

Ray.

Hey, Arnie.

Back up by ten, hmm?

You're really sticking it to him.

That border stuff is killing Santos.

How did it go with George Rohr?

Got him back in his cage for now.

Promise him anything?

I'll tell you after the election.

EMCEE: The Houston Police Officer's Union is proud to welcome

the next President and Vice President of the United States--

Arnold Vinick and Ray Sullivan.

( applause and cheering )