Which character from "The West Wing" would you rather have endorse you — the guy who played the president or the guy the POTUS pardoned for leaking classified government secrets to the press?
Iowans will get to see both this week, as two actors help out lesser known candidates.
Martin Sheen, who played President Bartlet on "The West Wing," will campaign with New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson Sunday and Monday in central Iowa.
"Bill Richardson has the proven record of success and the real-world experience that this country needs in our next President: he is ready for prime time," Sheen said in a campaign press release. "In this, the most important Presidential election of our time, with so much on the line, I believe that Bill Richardson is the only one who can create the change that we so desperately need to restore America's standing in the world and to get our country back on the right path at home."
The release also notes: Martin Sheen also is no stranger to politics, both professionally and in real life. He has played U.S. President John F. Kennedy in the miniseries "Kennedy: The Presidential Years"; Robert F. Kennedy in "Missiles of October"; the White House chief of staff in "The American President"; and is perhaps best known as President Josiah Bartlet in the acclaimed television drama "The West Wing," for which he received a Golden Globe award and six Emmy nominations for outstanding lead actor in a drama, including for the show's final 2005-2006 season.
But wait!
West Wing star Richard Schiff, who played White House communications guy (and pessimist) Toby Ziegler on the show, will be campaigning for Sen. Joe Biden in Iowa tonight through Sunday. (He's also an Emmy winner.)
" 'The West Wing' inspired its audience to seek the kind of presidential leadership that is based on experience, judgment, wisdom, and conscience," Schiff said in a Biden release. "On January 3rd, Iowans will have the opportunity to choose a president who can deliver that leadership by caucusing for Joe Biden. I believe that the enormous challenges facing our country at home and abroad — from safely leaving Iraq, to improving our education system, to the crisis that erupted yesterday in Pakistan — require Joe Biden's expertise in foreign affairs and constitutional law, his ability to unite the country, and his steadfast values, which include, most importantly, telling the truth. Iowa, and America, need Joe Biden because he is ready to lead from Day One and in the high-stakes world we live in, there are no re-takes."
Both Sheen and Schiff live in Los Angeles.
As I noted over the summer, Schiff praised Biden's performance when I met him at the YouTube debate in South Carolina.
— Christina Bellantoni, national political reporter, The Washington Times
Comments (1)
Both Joe Biden and Bill Richadson have qualifications superior to the front Dem runners, but, ironicaly, I fear, neither stand a chance. The quesion comes to mind, why does the electorate not choose the better man? Take G W Bush vs McCain in 2000 for instance. In hindsight we discover McCain would have won the Iraq war (speculating for the sake of arguement that he would have went to war), which dominated the Bush years, more rapidly. McCain had the requisite experience. McCain was right about putting in sufficient troops, and he probably would not have chosen Rumsfeld as defense secretary. The qualification differences were stark in 2000, as they are now on both the Dem and Rep sides, yet the overwhelming choice was the wrong man.
Posted by Rod Hug | December 28, 2007 7:08 PM