Election Day

Previously: some guys were running for President, and the race was close, or something. It might have something to do with some sort of nuclear accident. Oh, and did you hear that Josh and Donna kissed?

Lou's at a bar, asking for their best scotch. When the bartender sets down one glass, she clarifies that she'll need seven -- and the bottle. It's 11 PM CST, seven hours until the polls open. There's changing time zones all over this hour, and I'll tell you now that I'll just stick to the local times they tell me, since I cannot seem to figure out universally what time it is. I do think they're going in order. Ronna, Lester, Edie, Otto, Josh, and Donna are all there with Lou. Everyone looks genuinely relaxed, hanging out and having beers and joking about what city they might be in. Josh announces, "We have to accept that this is all coming to and end tomorrow." Edie adds dramatically, "And a single tear slips slowly down your cheek." Or, Lou offers, they can get hammered. "Everybody needs to relax," she orders as she pours good scotch. "Except you," she says to Josh. "Bartender needs your credit card."

As Josh gets up, Lou asks what everyone's post-campaign plans are. Edie wants more of a meal than just Cheetos and a Diet Sprite. (I don't know, that sounds pretty good right now, actually.) Ronna wants a pedicure. Otto chimes in that he wants a job as a White House speechwriter, and everyone immediately hollers at him that he's jinxing things. I'd make a rude crack, except that I'm the one who wore the same t-shirt during all six game of the NCAA tournament, including the one fateful game where I started out in something else, UCLA went down by almost 20, and at halftime I changed, horrified at myself, and the team had one of the most amazing comebacks in tournament history. Yes, yes, they did finally lose the last game. Details...but I digress. Donna wants more than two hours of sleep, and everyone goes back to the inside-joke stories about the time Lester tried to catch a bat in a hotel hallway in Portland. Josh comes back, aghast at the $175 price tag on the bottle, and lets Lou know she should get a pitcher of beer time. "'time'?" she asks.

Josh gets back to actual business, saying that Santos needs some information: he asks who's going to stay sober long enough to get it from Bram later. Everyone cartoonishly looks elsewhere, and Josh volunteers Edie. Lester then takes his leave for a night without "midnight rallies, airplane seats, and tracking polls." He downs his drink and leaves, to everyone's disappointment. Josh calls a 6 AM meeting, and after a pause Edie totally not-nonchalantly says she's going, too. She walks up to Lester, who's doing a cute little slow walk/dance and clearly waiting for her. Why isn't anyone doing a walk/dance at an elevator for me? Sigh.... Oh, okay, back to the recap. Josh asks, "Really?" Donna looks coyly over her glass and concurs, "Apparently." Lou snorts and drinks, and Otto asks if she should "be drinking like that." "Like what? You're twenty-three with a shocking lack of facial hair. Do you really want to tell a grown woman how to drink?" Otto looks down and actually seems completely chastised. Also? Otto, you know better than to make a comment like that to Lou, don't you? However, it's his gain as Lou announces bedtime and stands up, grabs the bottle, and walks off. Josh adds, "It's okay; you can take the bottle if you want." Otto downs his glass and follows Lou right out the door. Josh just asks, "How did I miss that?" Ronna, getting to leave herself, tells him, "You might have had an easier year of it if you'd come on board." She greets a woman at the bar with quite a kiss. Josh is once again the last to know: "Wow, Cindy? Did you that?" Donna asks, "About Ronna and Cindy?" "Any of them," Josh replies. Donna just replies, "Yes." "Which one?" he asks. "All of them," she says. Josh just softly says, "Wow." Donna is smiling, looking beautiful and doing an amazing come-hither with just her eyes. I need to ask for some lessons -- I might be getting some more elevator dances for myself. Josh asks her if she ever "came on board." She says no, and so he clarifies his question as if she couldn't understand his real meaning -- I think it's fair to assume this must be because he's tired, since she's already outsmarted him about all of the secret goings-on of the campaign.

Donna gets serious-looking, stands up, and sits to him. She crosses her legs (the wrong direction, I might add, if I've learned anything from the US body language expert, but maybe the director isn't quite as well-read of celebrity tabloids as I am) and touches her hair, which seems to make Josh ask her if she'd like another drink. She just tells him no, stands up, and walks to the elevator. Josh finally -- FINALLY -- gets it, throws back one last bit of liquid courage, and bangs his glass down to the credits.

Josh is lying in bed and opens his eyes. The lilting music of post-coital hilarity tinkles in the background. He turns his head quietly and sees the back of a naked Donna behind him. After staring a moment as if to make sure she's real, he turns back and bites the pillow a teeny bit. 3:03 AM. He rolls back over and starts to do the fake date stretch to stroke her hair but chickens out, and his movement wakes Donna. She turns and glances, also sees his back, and gets up. Captioning tells me the bed creaks. Once she's in the bathroom, Josh is lightning-fast putting on his boxers and does a little dance to get his shirt on to head in. Isn't that a bit presumptuous? On first viewing, I held my breath a little afraid on what he'd walk in on. He strikes a pose at the door, then opens to find Donna pulling on her skirt and wearing a white bra and looking...well, Vavoom. And thank goodness the writers have a less realistic imagination than I do about when someone gets up from bed and heads to the restroom. They're charmingly awkward and Donna's got a shy little smile as she gets dressed. They make small talk, and Josh tells her she doesn't have to leave. "I know," she replies. "I mean, you don't have to sneak out," he tells her. She replies this time in full annoyed volume -- rather than shy we've-just-seen-each-other-naked speak -- "I wasn't." She gives him a look, and he comments that he didn't want to make it awkward, but he just did. Really, though, would it be Josh if he didn't? I feel like "suave" would be out of character.

Donna tells Josh she's just checking news sites, and has the laptop fired up on the counter. He asks, "In a sweater?" She replies, "For warmth." On the one hand, yeah, getting fully dressed immediately can send a message of sorts. On the other hand -- first time they've hooked up, it's not really odd that she wouldn't want to be hanging out in the altogether just yet while she checks up on work. She turns to the computer, and Josh looks at himself in the mirror over her shoulder, grabs a tube of toothpaste, and sucks a teensy bit down. I must say, good idea! That's a good quick fix for time I find myself somewhere without my toothbrush. I mean, which I never, ever do, Mom. A good idea IN THEORY. Phew, that was close. Josh is still gazing over Donna's shoulder and might be about to smell her hair when she abruptly turns and offers to get them coffee. He takes the moment to get soft and serious and asks how she's feeling, and gets a very different reply than hoped for: "Like I really want to win this thing." After she walks away, Josh looks...disappointed, bummed, confused? A combo of all three, really. Finally, he answers to the mirror: "Coffee would be great. I take cream and..." "Three sugars, I know," she finishes his sentence.

Lou's aggressively walking on a treadmill in an exercise room that seems to have fairy lights gaily strung around. Interesting. No, wait -- that's some kind of reflection. No matter what, it's odd, and I'm now thinking of this as "Romantic Nighttime Workout Room." Edie comes in and offers, "Scotch, Otto, exercise? You should rehydrate." Lou was clearly trying to get away by how peeved she is at Edie's claim that the desk clerk said where Lou was. "He said he opened the gym for a lady with liquor breath and crazy eyes," Edie explains. Lou glares. Edie has found out that Vinick took a shot at Santos about foreign policy in a speech the night before, but Lou, still pissed that she's been found, concludes that there's very little they can do, since it's now Election Day. Edie informs her there are two and a half hours until the polls open. Lou keeps huffing away and starts running. Hi, New Balance product placement. There's a tagline for you: "Work out your post-sex energy with us!"

Donna steps out of the elevator holding coffees to find Otto is pacing and working on a speech. Donna looks pleased and embarrassed when she sees him. He's reciting a speech and gets her to confirm that "no one actually uses the word 'certitude.'" "Not really," Donna tells him. I am in full certitude of that statement. When Donna observes that Otto couldn't sleep either, he explains that this is his final go on the victory and concession speeches: "It was either this or, or a solitaire tournament with the advance guys." Hey, don't knock the solitaire! I've spent many a happy hour, just me and my deck of cards. Okay, so I also know I'm a dork. What of it? Donna tries Josh's door and, when it doesn't open, gives a little knock, still semi smiling. Ronna answers delightedly, and Josh, even more delightedly, announces, "No one could sleep!" in that manic, panicked, "I couldn't get them to leave!" desperate voice. Donna looks glazed. These three have the same exchange Edie and Lou just did about Vinick's slam, and Donna also points out that there's nothing to do but have their spin people work it. She moseys to Josh and murmurs, "Tell me you found my pantyhose." This is why I never wear pantyhose. Well, this and the binding and the strange sheen.

Los Angeles, 4:12 AM PST. A sexy girl is let into a room by...Bruno, who leads the way with his pot belly. I've honestly never thought one way or the other about his weight, but this sweater is just screaming, "Look at the giant meal I just ate!" I believe the girl just might be taller than he is. He's showing her the office, they flirt, and start sexily making out -- well, as sexily as Bruno really can be, which I have to say is just more gross than anything. He hears a ring and comments that he should check the fax, and Jane replies, "I already did," and walks right into their little moment. Bruno introduces the ladies and naturally doesn't know Carrie's last name. They have their own version of the conversation about Vinick's speech, and then talk about this schedule until they lapse into awkward silence; Carrie seems to be the only normal perceptive person who senses the tension and asks for the bathroom. Jane points the way, and Carrie heads out, to the sound of her slapping sandals. It's actually distracting. For a weird moment, I wondered if this was going the way of Bruno/Jane sexual tension, but thankfully it's never picked up again, so I think it's just awkward pre-election/we hate each other stress. She comments, "Cute." "Yeah." "Little young," she adds. "Yale grad," he replies. She gives him a glance, and he amends, "Almost grad." Oh, just...ew. Carrie, go for someone with better hair, at least! Bruno asks Jane if she couldn't sleep, and she confirms that and then sighs: "God, I hate the wait."

Houston 6:36 AM CST. At the airport, Mr. And Mrs. Santos deplane. She's rocking a white coat and scarf -- although with white gloves, about which I'm not as sure. He's completely at a loss of what to do now that there's no staff ordering him around. She tells him that his only plans are vote and home, and that he's already delivered his last stump, with a tone of giant relief in her voice. She pats his arm. They're on a roll this morning -- shockingly, they also aren't late for anything right now.

6:50 AM CST. Josh gets out of the elevator and runs into Donna coming out of her own hotel room; he notes that she changed and looks nice. She thanks him, and it's still All Awkward, All The Time. After another try at small talk, she conspiratorially leans in and mentions that she doesn't want to be in the same clothes she had on the night before. I happened to pause the show right here for a fantastic embarrassed yet delighted smile on Donna's face. Unfortunately, while she's smiling, Josh is completely nervous and unable to react. He launches back into work talk and then goes right into "You don't have to worry; a lot of people are going to be doing the walk of shame today. Not that what we did was shameful. Or is shameful; that's not what I meant." Fortunately, their entrance into the war room mercifully cuts this conversation short. And Josh, a walk of shame is back to your car and your own home, not walking back into work in the same clothes. Not that there's anything wrong with that either, but if you're going to use the term correctly, you should know. I did a walk of shame once at a rodeo. Well -- at the fairground the morning after the rodeo. I know my walks of shame, I assure you, and just am looking out for your usage.

Josh is briefed by Teddy about surrogates, volunteers, people on standby, exit polls, etc. He winds up his briefing with "We've got it completely handled, Josh." An extra comes up and hands him a piece of paper with a little flourish like it's going to be the best damn delivered paper EVER on this show. Josh can't seem to believe that his staff would be handling this right now. "Really?" "Really," Teddy assures him. Bradley Whitford is doing smell the fart acting to display his nerves. I'll hand it to the makeup department -- well, for his sake I hope it's just the makeup department -- that he's got ginormous bags under his eyes. Lou comes up to tell him it's time to "thank the troops." He mumbles, "The wait begins..." and I think that right now he can handle very few things worse than he can handle waiting. Josh makes a noise, and Lou totally realizes that he had no idea he would have to actually thank everyone today. He gathers everyone and then gets up on a computer chair and before I can think "Wow, that seems unstable," he's started smoothly rolling around to face the opposite way before grabbing a light fixture to right himself. Unfortunately, his speech goes from how long it's been, to meeting everyone, on to how much they've learned, such as the lesson that one "doesn't give shout-outs during radio interviews, and that we don't encourage our college buddies to hurl expletives at our opponent." This turns into accusations, which then becomes Josh's being told that he already fired the person he's accusing. His whole audience is suitably uncomfortable by this time. He begins his wrap-up by calling it a special day, and then orders them to get feedback from family and friends who have voted, and the staff scatters. "Good group," Josh observes to Lou. "Yeah...um, you might want to work the phrase 'thank you' in there somewhere." Oh Lou, must you be so technical about a thank-you speech? "Thank you! Appreciate it," Josh throws out to the room. Lou manages to glance at her watch just in time to count down the last five seconds before the polls open. Josh appears to actually be hyperventilating, and we get a loving close-up of his giant, furrowed brow.

Lou is watching news coverage of Vinick voting in Santa Paula. Otto comes in and brings a Red Bull and muffin. "Breakfast." "Are we going steady?" she asks snidely. He points out, a little defensively, "You called me." She replies, "The speeches." He's done with both the win and lose version and they've been proofed, but she wants one more in case they don't sweep the Hispanic popular vote. Otto agrees, and sits and stares. "Are you waiting for a hug or something?" she asks quite meanly. He sucks his lip and looks down, nods, and heads out. Poor Otto. Is this is very first non-romantic hookup?

In Vinick's office, Jane narrates that the rest of the polls are now open. Just to be difficult and push her buttons, Bob points out Hawaii and Alaska aren't, and she smoothly replies, "The two states on which the outcome of the presidential race so often depends." On the TV, they suddenly see all of the news coverage switch from Vinick to Santos going to vote.

This switches us back to the Central Time Zone, where Bram calls Josh a genius while on the phone. Bram reports on the speech the night before, and then tells Josh that Santos is relaxed. Josh: "You're...kidding?" "No, it's kind of a weird calm." Santos and staff are going to the house and will have exit polls in two hours. As Bram prattles on about...travel, maybe, Josh tells him to hold on, and watches his TV screen. It's switched to a really hokey map of the U.S. with weather on each of the quadrants -- it looks kind of like one from a kindergarten teacher's bulletin board -- where Josh sees something and runs out. What your noble recapper did not see is that it's raining in Boston, so Josh is, once again, freaking out. Once again, however, his staff is prepared. They have volunteers with umbrellas, extra drive time radio (courtesy of Lou), etc. She takes this moment to wind Josh up even more when she says she was just in the elevator with a man who didn't know it was Election Day. Oh goodness, Josh responds by immediately calling someone named Jeremy on his cell (wasn't Bram still holding on there, by the way? Did he ever hang up? I didn't ever see him hang up) to "ride the elevator for a few hours" and remind people to vote. Even while pedeconferencing, Lou is able to hang her head and then pretend to bang it softly against a wall a couple of times. I can't tell if Josh is just too nervous, or if he's feeling useless since his team is working well and just trying to pretend he still has a hand in things. It's probably a healthy combo of both.

Otto runs up with the Hispanic-vote speech, and Josh mumbles about all sorts of outcomes while Lou breaks it down and sends Otto to write yet two more -- win electoral/lose popular and win popular/lose electoral. Josh is now pacing and chewing on his Treo as everyone else heads to their various tasks. As he stands chewing alone in the hallway, a guy gets off the elevator and Josh makes him really nervous by saying, "Hey." I was about to make a crack to the effect that Josh is many great things, but that intimidating isn't one of them. But on second thought, I'd be nervous too, the way his eyes are practically rolling back in his head right now. Poor timid Drew tells Josh that Bram put him in charge of the party that night. Josh pats him on the back and sends him on his way, but then right after Drew has actually let out a discreet sigh of relief to get past him, Josh runs back to ask to go along.

12:55 EST, White House. It's Charlie! He enters the hallway with giant stack of notebooks (and sporting an "I voted" sticker) when C.J. intercepts and tells him, "If you're heading towards my office with those, you should rethink your course." Charlie will not be deterred, merely telling her he's holding "illustrious job offers." C.J. only wants election news, but there's nothing -- no exit polls yet. Charlie gets right back on course: "Margaret's been setting up meetings with potential employers. I took it upon myself to do some research." I want Charlie as MY assistant! C.J. doesn't seem as pleased, freaking out that she does not want meetings until January. It seems, however, that November is when January meetings are scheduled for CEOs. C.J. looks like she might vomit. Charlie forges on, listing Lockheed Martin, Johnson & Johnson, SBC (I suppose this scene was filmed before they became AT&T once again). She interrupts the list to ask, "Do you really think today is the day for this?" Without missing a beat, Charlie continues: "One has offices in Prague, though you have to be fluent in Czech. Another one, a company jet. Not Air Force One, but not bad. A lot of them have great stock options, something you should look into. Suckers could be worth something someday." Charlie should clearly go into sales after this. "Not Air Force One, But Not Bad" is what I want my tagline to be if I ever start an airline. It's like that horrible old Jennifer Aniston movie where she plays the ad exec and they're pushing Gulden's Mustard, "#2...And That Ain't Bad!" I didn't just admit that I've seen that movie, did I? What movie? Where? What's going on? C.J. has been glaring fiercely and, at the advice about stock options, she slams her papers down on the desk. After a moment of fierce staring, Charlie nods and leaves. C.J. walks into the Oval Office. There, she takes a moment to look around sadly, alone in the quiet, before heading back to her office and gently closing the door.

11:55 AM CST. From the ballroom comes the sound of a guitar. Drew brags that 3,000 have been invited to the party. Helpful Josh counters, "30,000 will try to make it through the door." Drew points out Security's measures to handle that. Josh doesn't have a comeback, because he's distracted by the band, realizing that it's the Foo Fighters. He (and I) are corrected, "Foo Fighters...well it's not The Foo Fighters." This is the battle you choose to wage with Josh? Interesting choice when he looks like a madman. Josh gives Drew a withering stare, so he moves on to tell Josh the party plans. Josh muses, "I love...Foo fighters." They start playing, he yells, "These guys voted, right?" but before Drew has to handle that one -- which I suspect Josh really wanted an answer to -- he answers his ringing phone. It's Donna, who sweetly tells him she's been looking for him. Josh launches into an awkward and sincere "Yeah, I didn't know if you needed some space, or..." She interrupts him and saves him from the rest of that by telling him they have the first exit polls. He literally runs from the room, and when Drew notices, he sprints after him. I feel like there should have been cartoon dust kicked up at that point. There's a loving close-up of Dave Grohl playing with a slightly too-short haircut.

Donna then starts a new conversation, with the time-honored "This may sound silly." Josh is encouraging: "No, what?" It turns out Donna's worried about some Minnesota law. "That's certainly less romantic," he quips. Josh, just ride out the giddy and fun for now -- the talking can come on some day that isn't the biggest of your political career. But he actually isn't upset that the subject matter is work at all. I guess that must come with being Campaign Manager. She goes on, worried about the exit polls there and then brushes it off to paranoia, but Josh immediately makes a call to have it checked out and have the numbers sent over. Aw, workplace romance! That's really kind of sweet. Immediately, there's a knock at the door, and both Josh and Donna freeze and remark, "Speedy..." Josh's voice completely cracks as he calls out, "Hello?" It's Ronna, and she and Josh "hello" a couple of more times until she asks, "Do you have Donna?" Josh's quick-thinking response is a brilliant "Uh, what?" "Do you have Donna?" "Have her?" he squeaks. "Know where she is," Ronna specifies. Josh and Donna are trying to keep their giggles silent as she artfully hooks his boxers with her toe and gracefully hands them across the bed. I'm smitten with these two right now. My cold heart has melted at the Cute. Edie's walked up outside, in the meantime, and Ronna calls through the door to tell Donna that Lou needs her for MSNBC. Edie and Ronna totally realize what's going on -- it's their chance, since they didn't have a big reveal themselves the night before over scotch -- and giggle and run off as Edie drops the Minnesota numbers Josh had requested. There's lots of rustling from inside the room as they giggle and hurry away before Josh gets the door open.

The Vinick Office, meanwhile, is featuring much less giggling. Everyone is shouting orders, Bruno is also worried about Minnesota numbers, and finally Bruno asks, "I shouldn't worry, right?" Bob tells him he shouldn't, and Bruno seems to switch his watch from one wrist to the other as Jane watches. Bruno notices and explains, "Superstitious. One of my Election Day good luck routines." "'One of'?" Jane asks. "You met Carrie already," Bruno deadpans. Oh my.

A shot to the news coverage of Vinick still campaigning carries back to the Santos camp. Josh is in a tizzy because they only knew that Vinick had plans for voting and breakfast. Now it turns out he's making stops across the state. Josh wants to get Santos there, but it's truly too late. Edie and Ronna point out that California is also a hair too big -- just a hair -- for Santos to go and individually reach undecided voters. "That's what Vinick's doing!" Josh screeches. They run down the whole game plan again. Josh asks about Leo, and Edie reports that he had a great affect in Akron. Ronna tries to assure him that everything is fine. Teddy enters to say, "Well, I think we already have. New exit polls are in."

Annabeth and Ronna are looking at a blog that calls Santos "the first Latino President." Lou's pissed, but Josh is atomic about how dangerous it is to post the raw exit poll data, etc...there's a lot of angry pacing and slamming down of papers until even Lou is defending the guy. Josh has a point -- that they don't want West Coast voters not voting since they think Santos has it in the bag already. Lou replies that the undecideds aren't the ones reading these blogs about exit polls, but Josh thinks maybe the networks would report it as news. However, Lou's got the better point: "Do you really think people are going to look at...Bernard's Blogland and mistake what they see for news?" Josh is doing the horrible attempted save of a losing argument by answering yes. "How big do you think the readership of Bernard's Blogland is?" Lou asks him. But she's done it now. Josh has an actual meltdown in front of the whiteboard about voter turnout while Donna's on a call in the background. Lou finally screams Josh's name and gets him to shut up his frantic yelling. Everyone watches the crazy man leave. He slams onto the roof and just pants there for a bit. Donna follows him out (and my only thought is, what if the door locks behind you?!) (It doesn't, just to put your mind at ease so that you can focus on the meltdown.) Josh is breathing through his gaping mouth. He asks Donna why she's there, and she answers, "I've been appointed." "To what?" he asks, surprised. "To make sure your head's not actually going to explode," she tells him. She actually took my line right there. He explains that the numbers aren't adding up, but she quietly and calmly tells him that they never do. Her rational and calming manner is finally helping him out, and all I can think about is how soon this type of scene could play out again as he has a meltdown for a completely different reason, and now I'm sad. She tells him that all he's been working for is there, and that it has to just be: "There's nothing left to do, Josh." He's making his smelly face, and sighs again.

The Santos Key Players are now congregated in the hallway at 5:55 CST. Lou is giving Otto yet more speeches, and he finally, exasperated, lists them out: "We need one if he wins, one if he loses. One if he loses the Latino vote. One if he wins the electoral vote but loses the popular vote. One if he loses the electoral vote but wins the popular vote. And one if he loses his home state." Lou: "Right." Otto: "What if two of these things happen simultaneously?" Oh, Otto, stop right now. You know the answer to that is just more work and less Lou sex for you. "I mean, what if he loses his home state and the Latino vote and still wins?" "That too, then," Lou agrees. Josh enters, and tells Otto also to write a speech for if it's too close to call. That's the Josh Lyman catchphrase at this point. Poor Otto actually leans back and begins thumping his head against the wall. Still want that job as a White House speechwriter, Otto? Josh tells them all to head back into the war room as the East Coast polls close.

Will's in his office, Kate spying on him through the window. She comes in and shuts the door, and mentions how she walked away, and his response is just "Yeah, it got weird all of sudden." Guys, let this be a lesson to you. Go back to what I said about mentioning a cross-country move and rethink your words time. You'll thank me, I promise. Will asks if it was California and she says no, and suddenly they're talking over each other as he says that if she were to stay in DC he could -- at this point she's saying she could never ask him to -- stay. He tells her, "You spend the night at my house more often than not." "Which makes me..." she prompts. "A really good date?" Okay, Will, you just won me back. Though she smiled, Kate still seems upset -- she's pacing, and Will's just standing with his hands in his pockets. "I'm not like you," Kate begins. "I don't live and die with the Democratic Party. I want to see the president through this crisis, whoever he is." "You keep saying that," Will replies and repeats, "'The president, whoever he is...'" Kate defends herself, "Yeah, well, the NSC's a non-partisan..." The light clicks on above Will's head. "Did you vote for Vinick?" She's speechless, and he's shocked. "You voted for Arnold Vinick?" Unfortunately for Kate, Will looks genuinely flabbergasted.

Jane and Bob talk quietly about how Bruno won't stop looking at the numbers, so she sends him to go speak to Bruno, who launches into how some numbers could be off. Bob can't seem to interrupt. Eventually, he jumps in and, in an act that seems to begin to accept an unfavorable outcome, points out that they are losing in North Dakota, "a state which has gone Republican for the last forty years." Bruno responds with more numbers, and Bob asks him what he'll do after this campaign. Bruno's a robot, and just responds manically with more numbers. He's got the glasses/Grandmother look rocking again. "You've done a hell of a job here." Bob tells him sincerely. "The nuclear thing -- there's no way you could have anticipated that." With that, we hear the overconfident voice of Paul Moyer, real-world local Los Angeles newscaster/fake world national newscaster coming from the TV. Six more states now closed which means actual results will start coming in. Jane is actually literally clutching her pearls (okay, so they're not pearls, but she's clutching her necklace and I can't resist use of the phrase) as we have a touching close-up of Paul assuring the nation that he'll get them all the info they need to know.

Pulling back from Paul, Team Santos is watching the same coverage. Lou asks about congressional races, which makes Annabeth look at her watch and announce that "Leo's gonna sleep through the whole damn thing. I've gotta go get him up." Oh god. This is going to be horrible. As they look at her, amazed, she adds, "What can I say? Nerves of steel. Just gotta get him cleaned up for the party. He's been threatening to wear his robe." (She puts a delightful little sneer on "robe.") Ronna comments, "Oh! Nothing says victory like threadbare flannel." Lou is rubbing her eyes and looking exhausted, and Josh is worrying his hair. A cheer rises at some results, but then Paul brings us the breaking news that West Virginia is unexpectedly going to Vinick.

Santos is watching the same thing when Helen walks in. He's all groggy. I can't tell you how much more I like groggy/confused/cute Santos more than overwhelmed candidate Santos. I've got a little crush brewing. "I slept!" he exclaimed. "And lost West Virginia, apparently." "And Kentucky and Indiana," Helen adds. "I'm a loser," Santos exclaims. "Oh, 24 to nothing, baby!" She's seeming a lot more relaxed and herself now too. "But you can still rebound. I have faith." They both just seem happy and real. I guess home will do that for you. Santos's attention turns back to the TV, which my closed captions tell me is worth hearing but the actual volume of the TV doesn't play. Helen asks, "Where are you?" "Hmm?" he mumbles. "In your head, where did you go?" "Just thinking about what I'm gonna do tomorrow," he muses. She's got the answer: "We'll take the kids to school, then go out to breakfast: bacon and pancakes." My stomach just growled. Clearly I know what I'm getting for breakfast tomorrow. "Backyard needs rakin'." Santos just looks exhausted.

The omnipresent Paul Moyer broadcast is on TV in C.J.'s office as she eats a salad. Charlie walks in and asks if she wants to take the offers home, to which she delivers a hearty "No thanks." "Maybe We can take a look again tomorrow," he doggedly replies. "Maybe after Christmas," she says. "Maybe week," he counters. She's done, and sharply asks, "Why are we still talking about this?" "Honestly?" Charlie asks. Yeah. "You're a smart and savvy woman who could easily consider world domination as her career move." C.J. glares at him. "And I'd like to continue working with you, if that's a possibility," Charlie says a bit more softly, looking back to the TV. She stabs her salad and knows he's gotten her where it counts. She tells him to pack some offers up for her to take home, picks another up, and starts to peruse it.

Moyer narrates us back to Josh and his numbers. When they project Santos to win Pennsylvania, there's cheering and blue coloring. Donna approaches Josh as he rambles on about his mother and her reports on her friends' votes. He's looking puffy and unshaven and finally asks the real question that has driven him to this state: what if, with everything they did, nothing has changed in three months? Donna finishes, "And it all comes down to California." She tries to assure him that he needed to make the tough choices, but he's a dog with a bone about the numbers. He goes back through all the problems in detail. I'm officially uninterested in Josh's freakouts anymore. "We don't have this wrapped up," he asserts. Way to go with the power of positive thinking, Josh. Remind me to book you for some quality motivational speaking.

Paul narrates to Vinick's office that it's going to be close, and Bruno watches with very pursed lips as Paul concludes, "It's going to be a very long night for Matt Santos and Arnold Vinick."

In the motorcade, Bram tells Santos he won South Carolina. Santos looks serious, but not terrified. He actually seems more Presidential than he ever has.

Annabeth's voice carries over as she tells the Secret Service agent, "I'm betting he's gonna want to be up for this. Mind letting me in?" And we're now at the moment I wished we never had to see on this show. Annabeth looks absolutely adorable with her hair all wavy and gives a bright smile as he opens the door. She goes in merrily calling, "Leo! Helloooo! ...Leo!" By now she sounds just a hair more annoyed but also tentative. Leo's nowhere to be found, and so she looks at the bathroom door, which we can't see past, and heads in, calling his name. Then there's a very different yell: "Leo! Somebody help me! Call 911!" The Secret Service agents begin to rush in, yelling that he's down and needs an ambulance.

I've got horrible goosebumps that come back every time I've watch this scene. Bring the Kleenex Sunday.