Nomination
Ritchie runs for the nomination during his final term as Florida Governor, meaning he first won the Governorship in 1992. It is revealed during Season 7 that Ritchie defeated Carol Gelsey 54-46% in the 1996 election, and was re-elected in 2000 with 61 percent of the vote. Ritchie is somewhat of a come-from-behind nominee in the 2002 election season, with most political analysts believing the Republicans would never nominate such an intellectually simple candidate to combat the self-named "Education President" Josiah Bartlet. Even when polls show Ritchie pulling even with the then-frontrunner Senator Jim Simon, (who is never seen or mentioned again) most of the senior White House staff doesn't believe he could win. Only Bartlet and Toby Ziegler, as Bartlet puts it, "know different." Vice President John Hoynes also warns the White House staff that they should take Ritchie seriously.
Ritchie is assumed to be the official Republican nominee after the episode "Hartsfield's Landing", which is the only episode showing any actual primary activity.
Read more about this topic: Robert Ritchie (The West Wing)
Famous quotes containing the word nomination:
“I shall not seek and I will not accept, the nomination of my party for another term as your President.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“The confirmation of Clarence Thomas, one of the most conservative voices to be added to the [Supreme] Court in recent memory, carries a sobering message for the African- American community.... As he begins to make his mark upon the lives of African Americans, we must acknowledge that his successful nomination is due in no small measure to the support he received from black Americans.”
—Kimberly Crenshaw (b. 1959)
“In ancient times—’twas no great loss—
They hung the thief upon the cross:
But now, alas!—I say’t with grief—
They hang the cross upon the thief.”
—Anonymous. “On a Nomination to the Legion of Honour,” from Aubrey Stewart’s English Epigrams and Epitaphs (1897)