"Bet you wish that Bartlet's coattails had lasted a little longer."
"President Bartlet's legacy is plenty big enough," Josh snapped back.
"Wasn't big enough for you to elect Santos and McGarry," the man replied.
"I would have to find the one Republican in Hawaii," Josh mumbled, gripping the neck of his beer a little tighter.
"Didn't catch that," the man said, even though it was clear that Josh had been talking to himself.
"I said that…"
"He said that he was lucky enough to find the one person on this beautiful beach willing to discuss politics with him," Donna broke in diplomatically. "I'm Donna Moss-Lyman, and it's a pleasure to meet someone willing to go head to head with my husband."
"Senator Lyman," the man said, offering his hand to her. "It's my pleasure. I'm Anthony Namura. I'm running for Congress this term."
"Well, good luck," Donna told him.
"Don't wish him luck," Josh hissed. "He's a Republican."
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"The damn plane landed twenty minutes ago," Toby grumbled. "Why haven't they let the passengers off yet? Getting a Supreme Court Justice confirmed doesn't take this long!"
"Gee, Toby," Jack commented, "do you and my wife have something going on that I should know about? You're more anxious to see her than I am."
"You mean something other than the sordid love affair?" Josh quipped, edging away from Toby. He didn't want to be within swinging distance in case Toby decided to retaliate.
"Oh, I've known about that for years," Jack replied, eyeing Toby warily. "I meant something more serious."
"Like what?" Josh inquired, grinning over at Toby. He decided he was standing far enough away to dial up his grin a few notches without fearing retribution.
"I don't know," Jack responded. "Maybe something like a secret presidential campaign," he tossed out glibly, raising an eyebrow at Toby.
"It won't be a secret for much longer if the two of you don't shut up," Toby growled, watching eagerly as the first passengers finally started to deplane.
"It has to be the worst-kept secret I've ever heard," Jack noted. "It's really not much of a secret at all."
"I think I've heard a worse-kept secret," Toby retorted dryly. He nodded as Josh mouthed 'Nick' to him behind Jack's back.
"That's hard to imagine," Jack laughed.
"It's not as hard as you'd think," Josh commented, eagerly scanning the crowd for any sign of Alex.
The three men saw her coming down the terminal at the same moment. They started to hurry toward her, too anxious to stand back and wait for her to reach them. Her face broke out in a wide grin as she saw them. They'd all been too impatient to find out how she'd made out.
"Look," she said lightly, leaning over the security barriers to place kisses on all three of their cheeks, "if it isn't my boyfriend, my lover, and my husband, all come to meet me. I'll leave you three to fight about who's who."
"Don't say that so loudly," Josh admonished. "You'll have some quack overhearing and then reporting it to the tabloids. The next thing you know, the entire campaign will have been derailed because of that one little joke."
"Shut up," Toby told Josh. "We don't want any more leaks about a campaign until we've had the chance to actually launch it. And the last thing we need is someone overhearing you giving political advice to her in the middle of a crowded airport!"
"Well, if we can't talk politics, why'd we come all the way to the airport to meet her?" Josh whined.
"Because you missed me?" Alex suggested, starting off toward the exit. She was as eager to talk politics as the others. The sooner they got out to the car, the sooner they could start.
"You were only gone for two days," Toby pointed out.
"If I was only gone for two days, then surely we can wait until tomorrow to talk shop, right?" Alex commented blithely.
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"I don't know if I'd take it that far."
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"But we've finally got a reason to take it that far," Josh refuted happily, looking around at the gathered group. "We're getting this started at last. Why shouldn't we go that far?"
"Why not?" Toby repeated incredulously, shooting to his feet. "Because we're still running a national campaign out of our home offices!" he burst out. "Because it's less than three months until Iowa and we're just getting started. That's why."
"There's a simple solution to at least one of those problems," Sam interjected before Toby had a chance to continue his rant. "We could always just rent out some office space somewhere," he stated logically, hoping that it would help to defuse Toby somewhat. It was a vain hope.
"But we don't have any staff!" Toby exploded. "We've arranged a press conference, but we don't have a press secretary. We're giving the first major speech of the campaign without a speechwriter. We're launching a national campaign without a campaign director, a communications person, a volunteer co-ordinator, or any of the other people you need to run a campaign. But, you know, at least one of those doesn't cause a problem because we don't have any volunteers. Quite frankly, it's amazing that we even have a candidate!"
"Toby, you and Josh have been planning this campaign for an obscene number of years, why the hell didn't you get any of this stuff figured out before?" CJ demanded.
Josh shrugged. "I guess we forgot to factor in the new rules," Josh explained. "Lazlow declared on the first day that he could under the new rules, and we weren't ready for it."
"This is the first set of Democratic primaries since the new rules took effect," Jack pointed out in their defense. "None of us knew what to expect. And we're not in that bad of a shape. We have a confirmed staff, they just don't work for us yet. Our war chest is in pretty good shape considering we haven't been legally allowed to fundraise for a presidential campaign outright."
"But it didn't cross anyone's mind that the first day anyone could announce anything related to the race was the day that Iowa allowed filing?" Donna inquired, her eyebrows raised in disbelief.
"It crossed our minds," Josh admitted. "But Jed declared late and Santos declared late. I guess we thought it wouldn't matter."
"And now you're freaking out about it," Donna noted.
"We're not getting anything productive done here," Alex piped up. "All we're doing is rehashing things that it's too late to go back and fix." She pushed herself to her feet, walking toward the doorway, intent on leaving the room.
"Wait a minute," Josh called after her. "Where are you going?"
"We've got a lot of stuff to do," Jack reminded her.
"Ten point plans are all well and good," Alex replied, "but I'm going into the dining room, where I'm going to start doing some real work. Plans don't translate themselves into reality and we don't have a lot of time left." Without another word, she walked out of the room, leaving the others sitting behind her.
Toby was still muttering beneath his breath when Sam and Donna got to their feet and followed Alex out of the room. CJ and Jack followed after a second. CJ turned in the doorway so that she could look back at Josh and Toby. "We might not have a permanent campaign staff yet," CJ told them, "or much of anything for a campaign, but we do have a candidate. I'm willing to do whatever it takes."
"She's the real thing," Sam added, doubling back to stand beside CJ. "And Josh, this time I don't need your poker face to know it."
The two walked off down the hall, leaving Josh and Toby sitting alone. "You know," Josh commented, "I was so busy planning this campaign that I think I forgot that we still had to run it."
