Annabeth Schott, played by Kristin Chenoweth, is a fictional character on the political drama The West Wing. She joined the Bartlet administration in Season 6 as the Deputy Press Secretary for Media Relations following the promotion of C.J. Cregg to White House Chief of Staff. Originally she had applied for a different position after working on and reportedly "discovering" political talk show host Taylor Reid. It was Taylor Reid in an earlier episode who baited C.J. Cregg by naming her as his "chicken of the week" for continually refusing to appear on his show to debate current White House issues. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Art History.
As Deputy Press Secretary, Annabeth was often called upon to brief the press, particularly as Toby Ziegler, who had been filling in for C.J., was often occupied by his duties as Communications Director. Although able to talk to reporters effectively outside of the realm of press briefings, Annabeth found herself frightened to be in the formal press briefing setting. Instead, she did her best to aid and teach Toby, who was prickly and mumbly with the press, to use his natural "watchable quality" to turn him into an able acting press secretary.
Towards the end of Season 6, Annabeth resigned, amicably, from the White House to aid Leo McGarry in the running of the 2006 Democratic Convention. Leo was announced as the running mate of Matt Santos in said convention and so, in Season 7, Schott joined the Santos-McGarry campaign as Leo's chief aide. The two bonded quickly and were rarely seen apart in the first half of the season. At one point when Leo suggested they get dinner, Annabeth stated that she thought that it would be best if they kept their distance when not working "because of the tension." After walking away, Leo wondered to himself "What tension?" The tension Annabeth feels may in fact be sexual in nature; Annabeth frequently compliments Leo on his appearance. Just prior to the Vice Presidential debate, Annabeth compliments Leo, and is then shown heaving a long sigh as he walks away.
Not long after, Leo used Annabeth's name to leak to the press that Leo was a poor debater, lowering the expectations on his Vice-Presidential debate, in which he performed spectacularly. When confronted by Annabeth on this, Leo mentioned that she should never use her cat's name as her computer password. The two continued to be close and at one point when Annabeth was singing to herself, Donna Moss mused that it was because of Leo.
On the night of the 2006 election, Annabeth went up to Leo's room where (she believed) he had been taking a nap. She found him unconscious on the floor, having suffered a second heart attack. He was rushed to the hospital and soon pronounced dead. Annabeth was the only one of his friends and family who was with him when he died.
Following Leo's death and the election of Matt Santos as president, Schott was selected by First Lady Helen Santos as her Press Secretary, working alongside Donna Moss, who was named Chief of Staff.
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