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.
塔维南·阿努固布拉瑟,Franc Naruth Prateeppravameta,吉达蓬·坡提维赫,Acare Chompoopuntip Temtanamongkol,卡纳潘·佩泽坤,帕查差·司隶亚楠让
提图斯·维里沃,米密·罗杰斯,麦迪逊·林茨,Denise G. Sanchez,马克·阿特伯里,Patrick Brennan,Rafael Cabrera,杰西卡·卡马乔,Stephen A. Chang,布鲁斯·戴维森,大卫·丹曼,Anthony Gonzales,曼尼·斯特里茨,马克斯·马蒂尼,Jared Shipley,盖·威尔逊
贝蒂·吉尔平,杰克·麦克道曼,伊利·亨利,Raphael Corkhill,山姆·米德,Roberto Mateos,达瑞·因戈尔夫松,桑德拉·库瑞,威洛·黑尔,Anna Lee Lawson,Rachel Winfree,Olivier Barrette,Starr Gilliard,Vic Zander,Nicholas Wagner,Ibrahim Renno,Paul Black,邦妮·阿伦斯,伊丽莎白·玛维尔,卡佳·赫尔伯斯,克里斯·迪亚曼托普洛斯,亚丽姗德拉·全,巴里·里维斯顿,阿什利·罗曼斯
马蒂尔达·德·安杰利斯
瑞斯·达比,塔伊加·维迪提,弗莱德·阿米森,奈特·法松,莱斯莉·琼斯,萨姆森·卡约,维科·奥尔蒂斯,艾文·布莱纳,乔尔·弗莱,马修·马希尔,伊登·格雷斯·雷德菲尔德,戴维·法恩,罗里·金尼尔,克里斯蒂安·奈恩,康·奥尼尔,古兹·可汗,多米尼克·伯吉斯,Cerris Morgan-Moyer,乔纳森·梅迪纳,Benton Jennings,Samba Schutte,Nathan Foad