Our first in-depth look into the Vinnick camp, and the people who are trying to bring down the characters we've come to love over the years. I thought the episode was effective in not really demonizing Vinnick's people; having almost the entire episode revolve around "the enemy" is rather tricky, and they did a good job.

One nit: They call Hawaii a "blue state." Didn't the "red state" "blue state" designations only come about due to the intensely close elections in 2000 and 2004? Where does it come from in the West Wing-verse?

No, Red/Blue has always been the means that states have been denoted. It's just in the last few elections that it's come into the public venacular.

In that case, the nit might be, why didn't they use those terms in the last campaign?