S7.E6

The Al Smith Dinner

Name: The Al Smith Dinner
Genre: Drama
Released: 2005-10-30
Duration: 42 min
Rating: 7.9
Cast: Alan Alda, Kristin Chenoweth, Allison Janney

Episode aired Oct 30, 2005
TV-14
42m

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

685

YOUR RATING

Patricia Richardson and Ron Silver in The West Wing (1999)

Drama

A pro-life special interest group launches an ad attacking Santos for his abortion stance, but Vinick also sees it as trouble since he's also pro-choice and doesn't want to draw attention to... Read allA pro-life special interest group launches an ad attacking Santos for his abortion stance, but Vinick also sees it as trouble since he's also pro-choice and doesn't want to draw attention to the issue. With Vinick ahead in the polls, he has no incentive to debate Santos and thus ... Read allA pro-life special interest group launches an ad attacking Santos for his abortion stance, but Vinick also sees it as trouble since he's also pro-choice and doesn't want to draw attention to the issue. With Vinick ahead in the polls, he has no incentive to debate Santos and thus continues to drag his feet over negotiations. Back at the White House, C.J. orders new Com... Read all

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

7.9/10

685

YOUR RATING

1Critic review

See production info at IMDbPro

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User reviews

7.9685

Storyline

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Trivia
This episode takes its title from the Annual Catholic charity dinner named in honor of Al Smith. Al Smith was born and raised an Irish Catholic in the 4th ward of New York City. A Democrat, he was the first Catholic elected governor of any state and was the first Catholic to run for president. Known as The Happy Warrior, he was less than happy when he carried only eight states in the election. He then went on to serve as the public head of the company that built the Empire State Building. Many of the programs started by Franklin D. Roosevelt in his first hundred days were copied directly from programs originated by Al Smith for New York State during his term as governor.

Goofs
The Al Smith Dinner, officially known as The Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner is actually held on the third Thursday of October, about 3 weeks before the election. A graphic at the beginning of the episode states the episode begins 63 days before the election, which would place the episode beginning in early August, and the episode time line does not allow for the Dinner to be in it's real historical time frame.

Quotes
Louise Thornton: Let this attack stand and we strip away what's different about Santos: he's a religious Catholic, not another secular Democrat who can be portrayed as hostile to heartland values.
Matthew Santos: Leo?
Leo McGarry: I worry about elevating this, but if the charge sticks it could kill us with values voters and that puts Vinick's nine-point lead in the bank.
Matthew Santos: We hit Vinick and we hit him hard!