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Season 7 Episode Index
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| Alan Alda as | Arnold Vinick | Republican Candidate for President |
| Richard Schiff as | Toby (Tobias Zachary) Ziegler | Former Communications Director |
| Bradley Whitford as | Josh (Joshua) Lyman | Santos Campaign Manager |
| with Jimmy Smits as |
Matthew Vincente Santos | Democratic Candidate for President |
| Special Guest Stars | ||
| Janeane Garofalo as | Louise "Lou" Thornton | Santos / McGarry Director of Communications |
| Ron Silver as | Bruno Gianelli | Vinick / Sullivan Campaign Strategist |
| Guest Starring | ||
| Matthew Del Negro as | Bram (Howard) | Santos / McGarry Campaign Staffer |
| Stephen Root as | Bob Mayer | Vinick Speechwriter |
| Melinda McGraw as | Jane Bruan | Vinick Campaign Manager |
| Diana-Maria Riva as | Edie (Edith) Ortega | Deputy Campaign Manager for Strategic Planning |
| Ramón De Ocampo as | Otto | Santos / McGarry Campaign Staffer |
| Michael Spound as | Doctor | |
| Co-Starring | ||
| Colette O'Connell as | Ellen Trayers | Boston Globe Reporter |
| Matthew J. Willig as | Famous Athlete | |
| Annie Morgan as | Annie | Vinick Staffer |
| Ken Michelman as | Ted Zukoski | Chicago Tribune Reporter |
| Lily Rains as | Santos Aide #1 | |
| Danny Pudi as | Santos Aide #2 | |
| Leith Burke as | Agent | |
| Anna Maganini as | Fresno TV Anchor | |
| Sunil Malhotra as | Vinick Aide |
But when it came to fleshing out details of Vinick's early political life, Santa Paula was a natural fit, said story editor Lauren Schmidt, who is the point person for the promotional campaign, receiving letters, postcards and invitations to community events playing up the Santa Paula connection.She wrote a biography stating that Vinick was born in Brooklyn but raised in Santa Paula, where he worked on the family's citrus ranch and learned the value of hard work. After graduating from Yale and Stanford Law School, he opened a law practice in Santa Paula and won a City Council seat in the town's first write-in victory.
But Vinick has yet to mention his Santa Paula roots on the show, and it's unclear whether he will, Schmidt said.
"Santa Paula Roots for Another Arnold"
by Fred Alvarez
November 8, 2005
Los Angeles Times
Spencer appeared in seven of the 14 episodes that have been filmed, nine of which have been broadcast.
"How series deal with death"
by William Keck
December 18, 2005
USA Today
"In an exchange with Senator Vinick on campaign strategy, one of his staffers suggests 'Go home to Santa Paula' to make a speech instead of in front of a nuclear power plant that has been in the story line," said City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz. "Alas, he goes to the power plant for his speech," but the comment marked the first time that Senator Vinick's hometown of Santa Paula has actually been mentioned on the program."A special thanks to Santa Paula's favorite daughter, Cindy Cunningham," a city native and former longtime aide to Senator Jack O'Connell for calling from Syracuse, where she is doing graduate studies, with the hometown news alert after the program aired on the East Coast earlier in the evening.
...
Councilwoman Mary Ann Krause, who with the Council was at the forefront of the effort to lobby NBC to officially declare the fictional Senator Vinick – played by award-winning actor Alan Alda – said she was forewarned by Bobkiewicz that the Santa Paula reference would be featured on Sunday's "The West Wing."
And, Krause added, Santa Paula, Senator Vinick's hometown, "was spoken very clearly, one of the easiest to understand lines on the whole show."
Senator Vinick's new campaign manager told him that he should "go back to Santa Paula and make his speech there where people would cheer him and love him."
"Is Senator Vinick closer to coming home after SP 'West Wing' reference?"
by Peggy Kelly
March 22, 2006
Santa Paula Times
O'Donnell, who was charged with writing Vinick, called it "my greatest pleasure on 'The West Wing,' especially since I once said that it would never be a Republican political show."He said his mind was changed after attending the 2004 GOP convention in New York and seeing the party's future in people like former New Jersey governor Christie Whitman, mayors Rudy Giuliani and Michael Bloomberg, and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger: politicians who are liberal on some issues, conservative on others.
"Sun sets on 'West Wing'"
by Aaron Barnhart
May 14, 2006
Kansas City Star