Election of the Fictional President of the U.S.

With the convention season over, the candidates are back on the campaign trail, focusing heavily on states likely to tip what has become a surprisingly close contest. Jed Bartlett, as played by Martin Sheen in the long-running drama The West Wing, has sought to reinforce his case for re-election as Fictional President of the United States with a new series of ads airing in Florida, Ohio, and Virginia emphasizing his benign liberalism, personal decency, and witty dialogue laced with references to things Aaron Sorkin likes.

Nonetheless, the Democrats appear to be on the back foot after a recent surge in support for Republican candidate James Marshall, the president played by Harrison Ford in the action movie Air Force One. Marshall’s hard line on national security appears to be paying off: GOP pollster Frank Luntz noted on Fox News yesterday that “Marshall’s promise to beat Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to a pulp in front of the United Nations General Assembly has clearly struck a chord with independent voters, so I think we can expect to see him taking similar positions on Russia and North Korea in the coming weeks.”

However, Marshall has taken some flak this week over his choice of running mate, New York senator Christopher Marshall (no relation), the one J.Lo ends up with in Maid in Manhattan. The Bartlett campaign has derided the former romantic lead, seeking to characterize him as a political lightweight who has yet to play a serious policy role, although Republicans hope that his moderate image will appeal to swing voters. Exchanges between the two camps became increasingly bitter last week after James Marshall threatened to pull out of the first presidential debate, claiming he would be at an unfair disadvantage because his speech writers were unaccustomed to dealing with situations that didn’t directly involve terrorists.

The parameters of the election have not been free of controversy: the Supreme Court is due to issue a five-four ruling today over the quixotic third party candidacy of Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter. The Justice Department has argued that he is constitutionally ineligible to serve as Fictional President, on the grounds that he bears too close a resemblance to a real president. Mr. Lincoln has almost no chance of being elected, but concern about the growing undead populations in Louisiana and Washington means that he may scrape a plurality in one or both of those states.

Inspired by the oddly popular internet parlor game of electing’ America’s best fictional president (go see), the contest has attracted a surprisingly large following since Politifact.com declared that pledges made by fictional characters were more likely to be adhered to than those of real candidates.

—A. Ledingham