The West Wing

With Palestinian leaders surrounded in their compound, Israel is willing to sit down with the US and moderate Palestinians to discuss a peaceful solution to the latest outbreak of fighting. Surprising everyone, however, the Palestinians publicly thank the US for inviting them to the negotiation table. Also, Donna is rushed into surgery for a pulmonary embolism.

Bartlet has convinced Israel and Palestine to visit Camp David for a round of peace negotiations. Leo stays back in order to give the official okay to strike the Ein Hawa terrorist training camp in Syria.

Before signing the peace accord, Bartlet tells his staff to go after the support of the House and the U.N. Josh and Toby are assigned the task of getting congressional support. Meanwhile, CJ works to confirm international support with the U.N. Security Council. Donna returns to work and Charlie resists taking a college swimming exam that would allow him to graduate.

The Bartlet Administration must devise a plan of action when an emissary from the Republic of Georgia walks into the White House and offers them weapons-grade uranium that's in a research reactor the Russians left behind when they pulled out of Georgia. Meanwhile, Josh goes looking for support of the tax cut from the DCCC and along the way meets with Matthew Santos, a bright and enigmatic congressman from Texas.

Josh test drives an oversized SUV and crashes into a hybrid car resulting in bad publicity for The White House. Annabeth, the new Press Secretary, has been on the job for only a week and is preparing to face the press corps for the first time. Toby is concerned that she looks too young and may not be prepared for their probing questions.

The US Peacekeeping compound is attacked and American soldiers are killed. As the White House struggles to contain the story, the father of one of the slain soldiers speaks out against the mission. Meanwhile, Democratic Congressman Santos attaches his Patients Bill of Rights to a Republican piece of legislation and effectively keeps the Democratic elements while maintaining a Republican agenda. Also, Leo gets a lesson in life and business from his nurse.

Final preparation goes into President Bartlet's visit to China when he accepts a flag from the Taiwanese delegation representing the Taiwanese Independence Movement, prompting China to prepare for military action.

At a Bartlet family birthday, Penn and Teller burn an American flag in the White House, prompting a political and publicity nightmare. Aboard Air Force One, Bartlet is stricken by a paralyzing episode of MS. Josh is approached to run the Vice President's presidential campaign.

As Bartlet and his staff arrive in China for a critical summit, he is still suffering from the paralyzing side-effects of MS. Meanwhile, an asteroid is headed for the U.S., leaving Josh and Leo to deal with the potential consequences.

The internet press is running with a story that questions CJ's sexual orientation. CJ refuses to put out a statement, which only makes the media press harder. The effects of MS are becoming more pronounced on President Bartlet. Meanwhile, Santos declares that he will run for President but only if Josh will run his campaign.

Josh goes to New Hampshire with Santos to set up their campaign headquarters. From the very beginning, there are problems with setting up the office in an abandoned shack and personal differences about the campaign's goals are immediately evident. Meanwhile, as Donna and Will work together on Russell's campaign, Will makes it clear to Donna that in order for their partnership to work, she needs to acknowledge that Josh is gone.

It's the day after the State of the Union and there's no time to rest.The staff is busy dealing with emrgency situations while Leo starts his first day in his new position by watching old State of the Union addresses to find inspiration. Kate spends her day working on a situation in Bolivia; CJ on a situation in North Korea; Toby on unemployment.

Vice President Russell is the first to give his speech at the Iowa Corn Growers' Expo. Matthew Santos and Arnold Vinick follow and the differences in these candidates become very clear. Josh struggles to understand how he can possibly guide Santos in this race.

Valentine's Day starts badly when the Iranian air force shoots down a British airliner, killing 100 passengers. The U.K. Prime Minister threatens to retaliate by bombing nuclear reactor sites, which could doom future support for political reformers in Iran. But C.J. has made an agreement with Abbey to allow the President to get more rest, and she is reluctant to awaken him at 5 A.M. to deal with the crisis. Meanwhile, Toby and a visiting law professor answer questions from a foreign delegation that is trying to write a new constitution for the former Soviet Republic of Belarus, and harried staffers pass the buck of Leo's traditional meeting with the new Miss World.

It's five days before the New Hampshire primary, and Josh is desperately trying to find a "silver bullet" that will get his candidate into the local debate between the two front-runners, Vice President Russell and former Vice President Hoynes. Then, Josh and Santos's disagreements over how to run the campaign come to a head when Santos hires Josh's ex-girlfriend Amy Gardner to help him prepare for the debate he may never be in. And Donna has a memorable encounter with a chicken.

A new candidate for president, Senator Rafferty, has garnered much media attention with a ground-breaking speech about health care. But her words contain interesting echoes of President Bartlet's original health plan, which is known only to White House insiders, and reporter Greg Brock suspects that Rafferty is being secretly supported by the incumbent. Meanwhile, Toby is more than usually morose after the death of his brother. A bill to combat drought conditions in the western U.S. gives C.J. problems, particularly in dealing with lobbyist Clifford Calley. And Charlie tells Kate Harper that a man from his gym asked if she was dating anyone.

Santos engineers a plot to get a stalled stem-cell bill scheduled for a vote in the House. President Bartlet has an uncomfortable reunion with a rival economist with whom he split the Nobel Prize. A group of underage kids tries to convince Toby they deserve the right to vote. Kate tries to resolve a silly border dispute with Canada before there is bloodshed.

Santos is campaigning in California during the last few days before the all-important "Super Tuesday" primary elections, but he is out of money and he trails both Russell and Hoynes in the polls. When even "La Palabra", a Latino voters group, is all set to endorse Hoynes instead of Santos, Josh urges Santos to take a stand on the new bill that denies driver's licenses to illegal immigrants. Meanwhile, Donna tries to figure out why Hoynes suddenly isn't campaigning in California, and advances her position in the Russell campaign by becoming the Vice President's official spokesperson.

New rumors about Fidel Castro's health cause the President to re-examine the economic sanctions against Cuba that haven't worked for 40 years, and he sends Leo McGarry to meet secretly with the Cuban dictator. The occasion causes C.J. to check into Kate Harper's past with the C.I.A., but she is unaware of a past encounter between Kate and Leo. Meanwhile, Charlie discovers the complexities of dealing with a termite invasion of the White House.

Senator Vinick, now the Republican Presidential nominee, receives advice from former Bartlet political consultant Bruno Gianelli on how to win all 50 states in the general election, and more specifically in the near term how to present his religious views to the public and pick a running mate. Meanwhile, Bartlet wrestles with getting a minimum wage hike passed by attaching it to a bill necessary to raise the debt ceiling, and with how to unify his party in the face of a three-way race for the Democratic nomination.

Faced with a Democratic party in disarray in the face of the strongest Republican challenger they have ever had, Bartlet asks Leo to take charge of the potentially chaotic Democratic National Convention, while Santos considers a party-unifying vice-presidential offer from front-runner Russell. Meanwhile, the International Space Station is leaking oxygen and a rescue of the three astronauts will be difficult, and Bartlet catches Charlie leaving Zoey's bedroom after a nighttime visit.

At the Democratic National Convention, Russell, Santos and Baker jockey for the 2162 votes that will give one of them the nomination for President, and the opportunity to lose to the apparently unstoppable Vinick in November. Meanwhile, the President must make a decision before it's too late on whether to deploy a secret rescue mission to the space station, and the FBI is asked to determine who leaked the existence of the military shuttle to the press.