Season 3: 2001–2002
Cast: Rob Lowe, Stockard Channing, Dulé Hill, Allison Janney, Janel Moloney, Richard Schiff, John Spencer, Bradley Whitford and Martin Sheen
The third season, which covers the administration's third and fourth years in office, starts off with Bartlet announcing his intention to run for reelection and is heavily devoted to the upcoming presidential election. Other prominent plotlines include Congressional investigations into whether Bartlet committed electoral fraud by concealing his MS, a death threat against C.J. and the ensuing relationship she develops with a Secret Service agent assigned to her, the Qumari defense minister Abdul Shareef plotting terrorist attacks against the US, and a troubling meeting between Toby and the President that leaves Bartlet with a bout of insomnia in "Night Five." The season finale, "Posse Comitatus" closes several of these storylines as Bartlet meets his opponent in the elections and reaffirms his commitment to beat him. The episode ends with the president finally deciding to order Shareef's assassination (a legally questionable act) and C.J.'s agent's murder, just after the man threatening C.J. was caught.
From a critical perspective, series creator Aaron Sorkin acknowledged in October 2002 that the terrorism-related plots designed to keep the series relevant after the real-life 9/11 attacks were awkward at times, saying "from week to week, you felt like you were writing the show handcuffed, a little bit. I didn't know how to write it anymore. It was a constant search for what I wasn't doing that used to make the show work. [...] Maybe there was a way to make it work; there probably was. I wasn't able to find it in twenty-two episodes." [1] Nonetheless, the show went on to win its third "Outstanding Drama" Emmy in a row.
剧情介绍：
民主党首领巴特勒（马丁·辛 Martin Sheen 饰）在美国总统大选中博得成功，成为美国新一任总统入主白宫，巴特勒总统任期开端，他的竞选团队也开端了在白宫的政治生涯，经历丰厚老道的幕僚长李奥（约翰·斯宾塞 John Spencer 饰）作为总统身边最亲近的初级幕僚担任给巴特勒总统提供最关键的政治意见，聪明绝顶的副幕僚长乔西（布莱德利·惠特福德 Bradley Whitford 饰）是李奥的二把手，已经叱咤比弗利山的媒体公关CJ（艾莉森·珍妮 Allison Janney 饰）将她的镇定与毒舌带到了巴特勒总统的旧事发布室，托比（理查德·希夫 Richard Schiff 饰）和山姆（罗伯·劳 Rob Lowe 饰）担任总统的演讲，政治新人唐娜（简·默勒尼 Janel Moloney 饰）和黑人小伙查理（杜勒·希尔 Dulé Hill 饰）也在摸爬滚打中开端了本人的政治生涯，在以真实历史事情为依托的政治事情中，巴特勒总统及其团队中的每一团体都在上任的第一年禁受了史无前例的洗礼，在超高强度的任务中领会着人生中绝无仅有的蜕变，
本剧节拍紧凑、情节严谨，由好莱坞著名编剧艾伦·索金于1999年创作并首播，开播后好评如潮，整套剧集从1999年至2007年取得高达177项各类奖项提名和91项奖项授予，其中包括两次金球奖等重要美国电视电影奖项，
