Previously on The West Wing: Jed insisted to Abby that he hadn't made the decision to run again; Josh told Hoynes he knew that Hoynes would be President if Hoynes had listened to him; Abby tried to cut through Jed's denial about the implications of his MS; Leo was starting to wonder whether Jed had already decided not to run again.

Over shots of Washington in the evening, we hear C.J.'s voice reading an email she's writing to her father (and this is the expository technique du jour; later, Sam and Josh will be reading email they're writing, too). She's explaining why she's not on a plane on her way to see him: it's because of an unanticipated filibuster. C.J. says that if he's mad at her, he's not alone, because it's Friday night and everyone's trying to get out the door, only she won't let anyone leave. On the monitor in her office, we see an old white guy identified as Senator Howard Stackhouse (D-Minnesota) blathering on as he reads recipes from a cookbook. I believe it's actor George Coe, who must qualify for HITG! status, having played hundreds of lawyers, judges, and politicians but whose name I didn't know until now.

We switch to Sam in his office, with his coat on. He's listening to the recipe, checking his watch, and saying to himself, "This isn't happening." Someone's taken the thinning shears to Sam's hair and removed the blow-dryable bulk. It's no Season One 'do, but it's good enough that I can live with it. I guess I can stop nursing this particular grudge. I'm in the market for a new grudge to nurse, if y'all have any suggestions. Oh wait, I just fell over my giant file folder marked "Waiting List of Nurseable Grudges." From the look of this thing, I'm all booked up grudge-wise until 2067. Sorry, false alarm. Sam calls out to C.J. as she walks by, "What the hell is he doing?"

Sam and C.J. pedeconference as C.J. explains, "It's a recipe for deep-fried fantail shrimp." They banter a bit about what Stackhouse is doing and how long he's going to be up there. How should C.J. know? Sam wonders how many recipes there can be. C.J.: "All together? I can't cook, but I think there are probably, like, twenty or thirty." Sam: "You're screwing around with me." C.J.: "Oh yeah." Sam complains that he's about to miss the shuttle that would allow him to catch the train to Sag Harbor. C.J. says he can spend the night in New York. He replies, "I've only got two nights, and you gotta see this house." C.J. asks, "It's cool?" Sam says it's a Frank Lloyd Wright. Well, then. C.J. asks, "Isn't it cold in Sag Harbor right now?" Sam: "We wear sweaters. It's a Tommy Hilfiger ad." Snort! I bet it is, too. As C.J. splits, she says, "He can't last forever." Sam complains that there are still twenty or thirty recipes he could read. C.J. almost disappears through a pair of swinging French doors saying, "Sam, seriously, there are more recipes than that." Sam calls out after her, "Who cares? He's blowing my weekend in the Hamptons." As the doors keep swinging, she calls back, "Maybe he doesn't know about the sweaters."