Game On

"Game On" is the sixth episode of the fourth season of The West Wing. The episode aired on October 30, 2002 on NBC. The episode features Josiah Bartlet, the President of the United States, debating against his opponent in the upcoming presidential election, as well as Sam Seaborn meeting the new character of Will Bailey and Leo McGarry attempting to stop the shipment of arms to a terrorist group. Reception for the episode was mixed, with differing viewpoints on how the show portrayed the dueling ideologies of liberalism and conservatism in the United States. Cast Plot The episode centers around preparing Josiah Bartlet for his sole debate against Robert Ritchie, the Governor of Florida and Republican nominee for president in the upcoming election. The opening scene of the episode depicts a prank related to debate preparation—Bartlet bets ten dollars against the rest of the White House senior staff that he can dupe Toby Ziegler into believing that Bartlet is a having a "crisis of confidence" for the upcoming debate. After learning that he'd been tricked, Toby simply comments to Josh Lyman, "he's ready". Josh is also tasked in the scene with finding "ten word" answers, sound-bite answers to policy questions that show that the Bartlet campaign can be folksy and in touch with the American public. After Toby alerts C. J. that a Democrat is going to be providing support for Ritchie in the post-debate spin room, Toby tells C. J. to find Albie Duncan, a Republican at the U.S. Department of State, who has agreed to similarly provide support for Bartlet. Despite objections that Duncan is "a little bit" crazy, C. J. prepares Duncan for the spin room on the flight to the debate. After practicing an answer on free trade, Duncan tells C. J. that trade is complicated, and that these simplified sound bites are misleading. Duncan also criticizes Josh for trying to get him help Josh come up with the ten word answers. During the debate, Ritchie answers a question on his tax plan simply by stating that "The American people know how to spend their money better than the federal government does." Bartlet, although given time for a rebuttal, ignores the content of Ritchie's answer, responding with the following:There it is... That's the ten-word answer my staff's been looking for for two weeks. There it is. Ten-word answers can kill you in political campaigns. They're the tip of the sword.