West Wing Election ... Eh

The suspense is over in the West Wing election. That is if you thought the show's writers would have ever allowed a Republican to win.

They didn't.

Texas Congressman Matt Santos, the Democrat played by Jimmy Smits, captured the White House over California Sen. Arnold Vinick, a Republican. I am certainly not surprised, although the writers are now trying to say they actually planned a Vinick victory until John Spencer died. (Spencer played Leo McGarry, Santos' running mate):

Writers said over the weekend that they'd originally intended to make Vinick the winner. But after Spencer's unexpected passing, they felt it would be too sad to make Santos lose both the election and his running mate.

Too sad? Isn't that what you call drama. The writers can say what they want, but I don't believe them. They have lionized Martin Sheen's President Josiah Bartlet, although if the actual president took the actions he did, the Hollywood types would have screamed for his scalp. That is, if he wasn't a Democrat. Assassinating another country's defense minister? C'mon. They would try to impeach the current president for that one. So the fix was in, and all of this talk now is spin -- because I think many of the show's fans were hoping for some fresh blood in the last few episodes.

Vinick was a fairly moderate Republican. His personality was much more complex than Santos. And he had to deal with attacks from his own party for not being conservative enough. In reality, if a real-life Vinick could survive a Republican primary (he probably can't), he would easily win the presidency.

Santos, on the other hand, had the whole underdog trait going for him. He was a relatively unknown congressman from the Lone Star State, too liberal to be elected anywhere outside Houston or Austin. In reality, he too would have never survived a real Democratic primary. Not because of his liberalism, but because HE WAS A RELATIVELY UNKNOWN CONGRESSMAN.

In my quick check, I could not find a sitting member of the U.S. House elected president since James Garfield did it in 1880 -- and Garfield was a House leader bound for a Senate seat before being selected as the Republican nominee. A sitting senator has not been elected president since JFK in 1960 -- but at least that's only 45 years ago, not 125!

I never bought the Santos campaign. I still don't. I can stand some dramatic license, but most West Wing viewers have a working knowledge of politics. I've met no one who watched the show who believes Santos would ever be elected president. He's too young, he's too liberal and he's too inexperienced. Had he been the governor of New Mexico or something, it would be a little more plausible. But not much.

Overall, the West Wing has been decent this season. But Alan Alda was used far too little, and the Santos fairy tale certainly isn't helping my outlook. I'd be interested to know your opinions on the show this season -- that is if I'm not the only person still watching it at this point.