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.

Bartlet authorizes a special ops team to rescue the five DEA agents only to have them caught in an ambush; CJ arranges for the host of "Capitol Beat" to have an exclusive interview with the wronged police officer; Toby must deal with Senator Gilette who threatens to make a third party run for president due to the tone of the changes on social security reform; Sam gives Ainsley another chance to meet the President, but she still fails to create a good impression; Josh finally gets the poll results from Joey; Abbey and Bartlet discuss his running for a second term.

Bartlet's decision about Haiti falls under scrutiny; C.J. makes a horrible blunder in a press conference and is hounded about the president's health by reporters; the staff disagrees about whether Bartlet should apologize for not revealing his medical condition; Abbey is angry that Jed has decided to run for reelection.

The senior staff clash with the consultants who are to work on Bartlet's reelection campaign; C.J. is concerned that the press senses the Bartlets' marriage could be in trouble; Josh asks Leo to let him use his connection to postpone the FDA's drug announcement; the situation on Haiti comes to a head.

While Jed, Leo and Fitzwallace grapple with terrorism and moral absolutes, Josh and Amy grapple with each other over a welfare-reform bill; Donna represents the White House at a North Dakota state-party caucus whose goal is to remove the word "North" from the state's name; Toby doesn't want Jed to attend a New York fund-raiser because Ritchie will be there; Charlie is assigned the responsibility of finding Jed a new secretary; C.J. discovers that Simon Donovan is a very straight shooter

Bartlet continues to struggle over the wisdom of assassinating the terrorist Qumari defense minister; after Ritchie declines to meet Bartlet, Sam and Toby play a dirty trick; as the search for Mrs. Landingham's replacement continues, Charlie finds the perfect candidate, who makes less than a stellar first impression on Bartlet; Josh's determination to pass a welfare bill costs Amy; as C.J.'s stalker is finally captured, the night ends in tragedy.

Bartlet decides he needs a lawyer when Qumar goes after Israel; Josh is disturbed to learn that Stackhouse might not endorse Bartlet; a comment Deborah made years ago comes back to haunt her during a security check.

As the staff prepares for the presidential debates at a North Carolina conference center, a vexing question about a failed attorney-general nomination (amid charges of racial profiling) leads to flashbacks of the administration's first weeks in office. Back then, Toby's marriage to Andrea Wyatt was about to end; now Sam and Charlie are helping him in his effort to reconcile with her. Meanwhile, the Israeli Air Force weighs in on the Qumari matter, and Joey Lucas reports that the president is likely to lose New Hampshire.