Robert Ritchie (TV character)

Robert Ritchie is a fictional character played by James Brolin on the television serial drama "The West Wing". The character is a two-term Governor of Florida and Republican nominee in the 2002 presidential election.

Nomination

Ricthie runs for the nomination during his final term as Florida Governor, meaning he won the Governorship in 1996. It is revealed during Season 7 that Ritchie defeated Carol Gelsey 54-46% during that election, and was re-elected in 2000 with 61 percent of the vote.Ritchie is somewhat of a come-from-behind nominee in the 2002 election season, with most political analysts believing the Republicans would never nominate such an intellectually simple candidate to combat the self-named "Education President" Josiah Bartlet. Even when polls show Ritchie pulling even with the then-frontrunner South Dakota Senator Jim Simon, (who is never seen or mentioned again) most of the senior White House staff doesn't believe he could win. Only Bartlet and Toby Ziegler, as Bartlet puts it, "know different." Vice President John Hoynes also warns the White House staff that they should take Ritchie seriously.

Ritchie is assumed to be the official Republican nominee after the episode "Hartsfield's Landing", which is the only episode showing any actual primary activity.

Campaign

Ritchie's campaign staff show their inexperience when Bartlet has an open-mike gaffe, saying on B roll after an interview that he thought Ritchie was a ".22 caliber mind in a .357 Magnum world" (in other words calling Ritchie stupid, a point Democrats had been careful to avoid thus far). Ritchie's staff repeatedly give quotes to the press, trying to push the White House into officially commenting, failing miserably as every mention of the story merely fueled the public debate over whether Ritchie was smart enough to be President. Eventually the supposed "gaffe" was revealed to be an astute maneuver by Bartlet to spark a debate over Ritchie's intelligence while avoiding backlash by making the incident really seem like an accident, not a straight-on attack. By using a gun reference, typically a GOP topic, to call Ritchie stupid, Bartlet was able to encourage even Republicans ask whether Ritchie was suited for the job.

The Ritchie campaign retaliate with its own behind-the-scenes political maneuver. Republican campaign staffer Kevin Kahn anonymously sends Sam Seaborn a video cassette containing an attack ad against Bartlet which has no source or sponsor. Sam decides to sit down with Kahn, against the express wishes of Josh Lyman, Toby Ziegler, and Bruno Gianelli, and during the meeting hands the video over to Kahn (trying to show Bartlet wasn't attacking Ritchie, but also saying the Bartlet campaign had an ad like it "in a drawer" if the Ritchie campaign struck first). Unfortunately, Kahn has played Sam the entire time, leaking the video to the press and telling them it was given to the Ritchie campaign by Sam. As such, the news report on the "story" of the leaked video, the video is played constantly in primetime on news networks, and the Ritchie campaign remain clean as they had not actually done anything but mail a videotape (which was only privately proven).

At the close of Season 3 ("Posse Comitatus"), Bartlet and Ritchie are both due to attend a Catholic fundraiser in New York City, a musical theatre production of Shakespeare's "King Henry" plays known as "The Wars of the Roses". Ritchie misses part of the play to go to a New York Yankees baseball game ("how ordinary Americans get their entertainment") in order to make Bartlet look elitist and out of touch. Toby Ziegler arranges for the Presidential Motorcade to drive up the Major Deegan Expressway to further delay Ritchie's arrival at the theater. When Ritchie and Bartlet do meet at the theatre, Bartlet tells Ritchie about the recent murder of Secret Service Agent Simon Donovan, to which Ritchie says only "Crime. Boy, I don't know". Bartlet then suggests that he and Ritchie should have a presidential debate. They then have an exchange of words about why they appear to dislike each other, with Bartlet saying that Ritchie turns disengagement into "a Zen-like thing" and Ritchie describing Bartlet as "a superior sumbitch", an academic elitist, a snob, "Hollywood", weak, liberal and untrustworthy. At this point Bartlet leaves, warning Ritchie "in the future, if you're wondering, " 'Crime. Boy, I don't know' " is when I decided to kick your ass."

The Ritchie campaign agree to only two debates, while the Bartlet camp want five. A decision is handed down that there will be two debates using rules that do not allow for true debate. Bartlet wants real discussion in the debate, so he traded down to a single debate in exchange for effective debate rules that allow him to engage Ritchie. The single debate results in an overwhelming victory for the President. When Governor Ritchie criticises the federal government superseding the states, President Bartlet replies by saying Florida had taken billions of dollars in money from the federal government, and cheekily asking "Can we have it back, please?" The President's debating skills are so impressive that even Ritchie himself admits defeat. In the post-debate handshake, Ritchie whispers "It's over," to Bartlet, who replies "You'll be back". There is an election episode ("Election Night"), showing the official results of the 2002 election, but the debate is where Bartlet is considered to have beaten Ritchie.

Despite Bartlet's prediction, Ritchie is not among the names listed as the Republican candidates in the following election.

Inspiration

"West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin based the Ritchie character on his perception of President George W. Bush. Ritchie's intelligence is called into question, a common criticism of President Bush, and the character is the governor of Florida, as was the president's brother Jeb. Sorkin wrote the fictional 2002 election as a result of 2000 Democrat candidate Al Gore playing down his intelligence to compete against the folksy Bush. As a result, the West Wing election is in essence a version of events as Sorkin had wished to see them. [ [http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/03/04/020304ta_talk_friend Snookered By Bush] ] Sorkin would leave the show at the end of the fourth year, with executive producer John Wells taking a more active role in story development. [ [http://blogcritics.org/archives/2003/09/25/034434.php Regime Change] ] By contrast, in the 2006 election, Republican candidate Arnold Vinick is portrayed as likeable, principled, and intelligent.

See also

*"The West Wing"
*List of characters on The West Wing
*List of politicians on The West Wing
*List of The West Wing episodes

References