Will follows C.J. to ask about possible budget mistakes. When C.J. is surprised that he already read the eight hundred pages, he admits that he didn't, "but Lucy Benoit did." She's a new reporter at the Times, replacing some guy named Jack, who has "shingles." Poor C.J. -- everything is changing, even that which isn't supposed to. She's stunned that shingles could cause an early retirement, but it seems they're shingles of the "tax fraud" variety. She mentions, "If I'm in the market for a cover, I think I'd pick something that's not..." "Viral?" Will supplies. She agrees. He observes, "Well, any port in a storm." She tells him, "I'm going across the street -- will you be sad you don't have a coat?" He says he'll be fine.
Continuing with Will's budget questions, there is apparently a fifty-cent gas tax proposed, and reporters are already asking questions. C.J. questions why the department heads are already leaking the budget if it's near impossible that they've read it, but it's kind of moot in the wake of the fifty-cent queries. C.J. confides that it is not a mistake, and knows that she'll be making many a person angry with a proposal like that. Will looks almost awed at her balls, and asks, "Why does the President want to stir up so much animosity two weeks before we leave office?" "Because he's old and dotty," C.J. calmly explains. Will gets it and says, "He has a reason." Yes, C.J. tells him: "But we're not ready to discuss it with the press." He assures her that he'll kill the rumors, and she repeats that it is not ready to be released. What could be up their sleeves? It couldn't be that this is another plan to try to help the transition and the country, like that whole war bluffing incident. This staff has proven nothing but that its members are insane and irrational, so I can see why everyone would assume Bartlet has lost his mind. Will is cold, and C.J. very happily has no sympathy, since she told him to wear a coat. He stops to go back, but first asks her what she thinks about some guy from Treasury. The verdict is that he's okay, other than that "his wife is younger than his daughter." I think that if that's a sticking point, it's going to shorten the list quite a bit, so let's not get crazy. Will asks what she thinks Treasury Guy's chances would be in Oregon, and although she thinks they aren't good, she gives him a couple of other names.
C.J. walks in to the President-Elect's office and says she's there to see Santos, and the embryo at the desk asks her name. She literally looks askance at the girl as she gives it, and Ronna rushes up to save the moment and introduce herself. It's funny both to hear C.J. referred to as "Ms. Cregg," and to hear Ronna be so official, since we've just seen so much of her with the Santos gang being more casual. I prefer my entire world on a first-name basis unless a last name is something spectacularly hilarious. Possibly one reason I don't work in the White House.
Kate calms C.J., and quietly says that she'll have Kate's memo that day; she then gives C.J. a moment. During this moment, I finally have a chance to look at Kate's absolutely horrible dress. I've been trying to figure it out all hour -- it originally looked like a lace-edged camisole under a suit jacket, but it turns out to be a dress made out of the same material as her jacket. The whole thing has the effect of making her look wide, hippy, bloated, and stout, which I can't imagine is the look she's trying for, since her hair and makeup both look really nice and I tend to think that women generally try not to dress to look like they're twice their actual size. Maybe it's just me?
Kate finally asks C.J. if she is okay, and C.J. pouts, "I think I just got an offer I can't refuse from Matt Santos." This marks the beginning of my ultimate confusion, since other than telling her she'd be great and being adamant about her saying yes, I can't understand why it's something C.J. can't refuse. It's a good offer, yes, but better than anything else? However, we're going to pretend that it is somehow an offer she must accept since she's going to treat it as such from here on out. While Kate thinks this is good, C.J. assures her that it looks different after only two years there versus eight. They exchange a few more comments about the hiring before, without a change of tone or a breath, C.J. asks Kate what she thinks Bartlet would do if she asked him to commute Toby's sentence. C.J. assures a stunned Kate that she just wants her opinion. But I wonder if she really does when Kate tells her, "Opinion is that he compromised a crucial defense department program. He undermined the press's authority. He committed a federal offense -- he goes to jail." When C.J. talks about Toby's young children and argues that she's still mad at him regardless, Kate just points out that it would be Bartlet's decision. Whether C.J. brings it up or not, "I don't think this one slipped the President's mind." When Kate adds that his not applying means he might not want to put Bartlet in that position to decide, she does advise that she thinks C.J. should talk to Toby, whom C.J. very nonchalantly admits she has not spoken to since he left. At this very moment, Danny walks in and bids Kate goodbye. Kate's good at quickly getting the hint and heads right out. He very cutely asks C.J. to have lunch, but when she gives her laundry list of excuses, he just tells her that it's important.
Kate enters Will's office and shuts the door. After taking an extremely defensive stance that only accentuates the dress's horribleosity, she tells him that the NSA position was offered to Glen. She admits that she's young and that it was a long shot, but Will commiserates that she still wanted it. Something about that is familiar and supportive, and I continue to like whatever it is that's between the two of them. He tries to reassure her, but also just states, "That sucks." "Sucks a lot," she agrees. Score one for Will, knowing when a girl just needs some agreement and a few moments of wallowing. She asks him about the DCCC, and he tells her that the offer was good, but also could end up making him insane -- case in point being his obsession with this Oregon race, already. He explains that he thought he could find the right person, "but as it turns out, there's a real dearth of ballsy Oregonians." That's a state motto if I ever heard one. Kate (while cleaning out her nails -- my own personal bad meeting habit) tells him to get someone else, and he exposits that if someone buys a house 180 days before the primary, he'll establish residency, but Will still doesn't think that will work against a fifteen-year incumbent. Kate continues talking him through it, asking what traits he's looking for in a candidate, other than Oregon residency. Will: "Place needs a fresh face -- somebody smart but not so wonky that you can't put him in front of a TV camera." Kate assures him that's not a sticking point, and that if he finds someone good, Will can train that person to handle the media. She goes on to expound on all the experience Will has and everything he could teach this person, and then looks up and stares, gaping. He mirrors her gape; they gape. He finally laughs out a "No." He insists that it makes no sense, and she insists that it does; he declares that he's not moving to Oregon, and she just tells him that he is. Will starts to bring a "We" argument into it, but Kate silences that: "We're what?" As he protests, she declares, "You'll win." He gives this a moment and slowly begins to suggest, "You could..." It's her turn to shoot down moving to Oregon. She's not letting him not do it. Those two crazy kids.