S7E7 · The Debate

In the final minutes before their first debate, Congressman Matt Santos and Senator Arnold Vinick are extremely nervous – "terrified doesn't even begin to cover it," Vinick tells his campaign manager Bruno Gianelli. Vinick expresses frustration with the time limits, believing it stifles his ability to properly express his ideas, while Santos worries about effectively communicating his policies, something he has struggled with. Both candidates walk on stage, and moderator Forrest Sawyer explains the rules: two minutes to answer a question, followed by a one-minute rebuttal, followed by thirty seconds for a counterpoint at Sawyer's discretion, and candidates may not speak directly to each other. Having won the coin toss to give his opening statement first, Vinick hesitates before proposing the rules be thrown out in favor of "a real debate" with no time limits and direct conversation; though apprehensive, Santos agrees.

On the question of immigration, Vinick's advocacy of increased border patrols is offset by Santos's argument that the true issue is economic instability in Mexico driving people north. When the subject turns to Vinick's signature policy, a tax cut, he dominates despite neither he nor Santos offering a tangible plan to reduce the deficit. On public education, Santos's signature policy, he advocates new approaches to raising education standards and expresses hope the United States will rank number one in education in ten years; when Vinick denounces this as a lie, a heckler shouts "you're the liar!", which causes Sawyer to threaten to reinstate the original rules unless civility is maintained.

Vinick argues that instead of trying to raise education standards, as several administrations have failed to do, America should admit that not every child can or needs go to college and adjust its aspirations accordingly, pointing to the country's history of attracting intelligent foreign students to its prestigious universities.

During the health care segment both Santos and Vinick become passionate enough to step away from their podiums, prompting a technician to give them handheld microphones. Santos advocates for everyone to have access to Medicare, which Vinick struggles to counter with his suggestion that healthcare be made tax deductible. He recovers on the subject of pharmaceutical costs, particularly when he segues into medical aid and debt relief in Africa by tying it back into his tax cuts. On the subject of job security, Vinick shocks the audience by saying he will not only create no new jobs but cut them, as he believes employment is the responsibility of entrepreneurs and businesses, while the federal government should "get out of the way" and allow this to flourish. He stumbles when he indirectly calls Santos an "unthinking liberal," which Santos turns into a speech about partisan ideology.

After a brief discussion of gun control, a question on energy becomes a heated argument about the funding each candidate receives from corporations and lobbyists, which Sawyer is forced to curtail. Santos cites the dangers of increased reliance on nuclear power, to which Vinick retorts that "nuclear power is completely safe." (When a nuclear reactor in Vinick's home state of California suffers a near-meltdown in the episode "Duck and Cover", this quote dominates the news cycle and almost derails his campaign.) He also dismisses Santos's advocacy for alternative energy sources, which leads to an argument about global warming that Sawyer is again forced to stop. Santos pledges to never go to war over oil, which Vinick mocks because he believes oil-rich countries are too economically dependent upon the U.S. to try and withhold it.

In their closing statements, Santos argues that Vinick cannot solve all of America's problems with his tax cut, and that Santos would be a president who implements new policies instead of rejecting them out of hand. Vinick envisions returning America to an era of big business and small government, giving people the freedom to choose their own futures. With that, Sawyer brings the debate to a close.