Is it life imitating art, or the reverse?
Members of the cast of “The West Wing,” TV’s iconic political drama, will campaign for Hillary Clinton this weekend. They’ll barnstorm across the key swing state of Ohio like a traveling troupe of players.
Actor Martin Sheen, who played President Josiah Bartlett, the erudite; somewhat pompous, yet thoughtful; compassionate; righteous, but politically practical chief executive – the kind of Oval Office leader that every liberal has ever hoped for, and therefore totally fictional – won’t be there.
But other favorites will hit the hustings: Josh, played by Bradley Whitford; C.J., played by Allison Janney; Toby; played by Richard Schiff; Charlie, played by Dule Hill; Will, played Joshua Malina; and Kate, played by Mary McCormack. They’ll push voter registration and trumpet Clinton’s message.
Over Saturday and Sunday, they’ll be in Boardman, a Youngstown suburb; Cleveland; Sandusky; Toledo; Dayton; and Columbus.
If there’s a key battleground in presidential politics, it’s Ohio, a sort of Midwestern, sort of Middle Atlantic state. It’s blue collar, industrial, urban and rural. It has 18 electoral votes and since 1944, has failed to pick the winner just once, in 1960 when it went with Richard Nixon over John F. Kennedy.
In a related Ohio development, the Cincinnati Enquirer, which notes that it has supported Republicans for president for nearly a century, said in an editorial Friday that it would endorse Clinton over Republican Donald Trump. Trump, the newspaper’s editorial board wrote, “is a clear and present danger to our country.”
“The West Wing” ran for seven seasons, from 1999, midway through President Bill Clinton’s second term, through 2006, during the George W. Bush adminstration. It won 26 Emmy awards.
There were no car chases or convoluted plots involving political conspiracies and secret cabals. Standard small screen fare. But it became must-see TV for political junkies. A standard scene was the characters walking though the TV White House’s corridors and talking fast, giving the impression of a staff constantly under the gun, but always unfailingly witty.
The show had a decidedly liberal bent. But it took the business of government, generally thought to be about as riveting as a report on how the U.S. Patent Office could improve its application review process and patent quality – that’s an actual report! – celebrated it (does this not sound like a certain Democratic presidential candidate?) and made it service compelling dramas about the characters and their personal lives.
It also probably inspired a fair number of young viewers to change their majors.
The show’s characters didn’t always win, but were always oh-so honorable in battle. It remains one of those cultural moments that continue to radiate long past their demise. There’s even a podcast, The West Wing Weekly, which dissects each episode for those fans who can just never get enough.
David Goldstein: 202-383-6105, @GoldsteinDavidJ