The President delivers his 3rd State of the Union address, what critics call "the speech of his political career" and ends up angering Abbey by what he does and doesn't say; Josh must work the polling center with Joey Lucas, but a power outage delays the results; Sam attempts to introduce Ainsley to the President with disastrous results; CJ must juggle a live recording of the show "Capitol Beat" being broadcast within the White House and run damage control when a cop has a (possibly undeserved) black mark on his record; Leo and Bartlet must handle the matter of five DEA officials who are taken hostage by Columbian terrorists.
Spoilers ahead. Coverage follows the scope labeled below.
Complete story — includes the ending
The President addresses the nation, and five DEA agents are taken hostage in Colombia. C.J. discovers an invited guest to the State of the Union speech has a questionable background, while Capital Beat does a three-hour show live from the West Wing. Josh, Joey Lucas ( Marlee Matlin ), and Donna run an important telephone survey that will influence a gun-control initiative the staff has been planning. Note: Stockard Channing submitted this episode as an Emmy nominee for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series.