Bruno Gianelli

Bruno Gianelli is a fictional character from the television series "The West Wing" played by Ron Silver, who was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2002 for his performance. The character is loosley based on former Clinton strategist Dick Morris.

Gianelli is considered to be a brilliant political strategist, claiming that the only election campaigns he'd ever lost "are ones where the candidate didn't listen or the advice didn't get through." He was credited with the election of five senators, three governors, a Democratic candidate called Hacket in a place "where they haven't elected a Democrat in 46 years" and an Israeli Prime Minister. Unlike many of the other characters in the series, Gianelli is not depicted as being all that concerned about ideals and principles and serves more as a hired gun. Leo McGarry remarks he's probably never voted in his life, and at one point he jokes that he is made nervous by a campaign idea because, according to Sam Seaborn, "it's not amoral." The few times his own personal politics do come up he appears to be fairly moderate and, in fact, thinks both parties should be strong.

He managed President Jed Bartlet's re-election campaign in the third and fourth season for the 2002 Presidential election. He was cited by C.J. Cregg after Bartlet's victory as being the reason for the landslide.

Gianelli resurfaced in the show's sixth season as a campaign adviser to Republican Senator Arnold Vinick in his Presidential campaign for the 2006 election. During the Democratic primaries in the 2006 election, he was mentioned as having managed Governor Eric Baker's campaign for the Democratic nomination before Baker dropped out (having previously managed Baker's gubernatorial runs.) Gianelli then went to Vinick, a pro-choice moderate Republican who had just secured the Republican nomination for president, and proposed a 50-state strategy that would allow Vinick to unite the country after years of partisan, wedge-issue politics (that Gianelli admitted that he himself had contributed to). When questioned why he, a supposed Democrat, would be willing to run the campaign of a Republican, he reasoned that this would also help the Democrats by moving the Republicans away from the right-wing, therefore shielding Democrats from right-wing allegations that they are "unpatriotic." (Gianelli's party switch mirrors that of the actor who portrays him: Silver, a lifelong Democrat, endorsed George W. Bush for re-election and spoke at the 2004 Republican National Convention.)

After the 2006 Presidential election was over, Gianelli stated he hoped to retire to his home on the Hudson River in upstate New York. Senator Vinick's loss in the election to Democrat Matt Santos did perhaps end Bruno's winning streak, although Vinick and his other senior advisors did sometimes ignore Bruno's advice, so the loss may have fitted into Bruno's assertion about candidates who ignored his advice losing. At numerous points in the campaign, Bruno clashed with the Republicans advisers to Vinick (Sheila Brooks, Bob Mayer, Jane Braun, Ray Sullivan and RNC Chairman Steve Hodder) over the campaign's message, with Bruno advocating a centrist message more often than the other advisers, and Bruno sometimes clashed with Vinick himself.

ee also

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