Sam Seaborn

Samuel Norman 'Sam' Seaborn, Deputy Communications Director, is a fictional character played by Rob Lowe on the television serial drama The West Wing.

Related Topics:
Fictional character - Rob Lowe - Television - Serial - Drama - The West Wing

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Samuel Norman Seaborn attended Princeton University, although his undergraduate major is unclear. He makes repeated references to his alma mater, especially in the earlier seasons, indicating a certain pride in his attendance there. "Princeton" is his Secret Service code name, and he mentions being the recording secretary of the Princeton Gilbert & Sullivan Society.

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Sam attended Duke Law School and was later the editor of the Duke Law Review. He also worked at the law firm of Dewey Ballantine in New York City before joining Gage Whitney Pace, the second biggest law firm in New York City. Sam worked there for seven years before leaving to become a speech writer for Josiah Bartlet during Bartlet's campaign for the presidency. Sam was about to be made partner before he joined the campaign on the recommendation of his friend Josh Lyman, who had just gone to see the Governor speak and believed Bartlet was "the real thing".

Related Topics:
Duke Law School - Duke Law Review - New York City - Josiah Bartlet

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After he joined the campaign, Sam broke up with his fiance, Lisa Sherborne, whom he was planning to marry in October of that year. In a later episode C.J. asks Sam, "Did she break up with you because her name would be Lisa Sherborne-Seaborn?"

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Sam's other romantic relationships include a "highly priced call girl" named Laurie (whom he slept with without knowledge of her profession), and Leo McGarry's daughter, Mallory.

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Sam's greatest strength and sometimes flaw is his unflinching idealism. His enduring faith in and love for the American political process are important aspects of his character. In a third season episode, President Bartlet told Sam that he would run for President later on in his career and that he should not be scared when he does so.

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During the fourth season, Sam decides to run for Congress in his home district — the California 47th in Orange County, California — in a special election held after Horton Wilde, a Democratic candidate who died of a heart attack, narrowly won the election posthumously.

Related Topics:
Congress - Orange County - California - Democratic - Heart attack - Posthumous

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It was never revealed definitively whether Sam won or lost the election, although he was losing by a wide margin in the heavily Republican district when he last appeared on the show.

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Some argue that Horton Wilde won posthumously only because Republicans had devoted their efforts to other Congressional campaigns after Wilde's death. With a high-profile Democrat like Sam running in a race occurring separately from all the other concluded Congressional campaigns, the Republicans would have redoubled their efforts to win that county. Additionally, throughout the relevant episodes, the characters constantly make reference to an overwhelming likelihood of Sam's defeat, given polling data.

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Others argue that the show has a recurring theme of underdogs winning unexpectedly against the favored candidate, such as during Bartlet's initial Presidential campaign (where Hoynes was the expected winner) and Wilde's campaign (where Wilde's death was assumed to have given the election to the Republican candidate) — and thus it would be thematically inconsistent for Sam to not have won the Congressional seat. Additionally, if Sam lost, a continuity problem arises with regards to why Sam would not have returned to the Bartlet Administration, given his pending promotion to Senior Counsel to the President.

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Since his departure, which occurred because actor Rob Lowe wanted to move on, Sam was mentioned in a few episodes on the show, yet viewers were never made aware of his fate. In June 2005 it was reported that Rob Lowe may return as Sam for five episodes in November 2005 http://www.imdb.com/news/sb/2005-06-10#tv1, but this has not been confirmed.

Related Topics:
June 2005 - November 2005

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