|
| |
Joshua Malina as Will Bailey
|
| |
Joshua Malina
|
| |
Aaron Sorkin and Paul Redford
|
| |
Game On
|
| |
Tomorrow <br>
|
| |
Wilde Campaign Manager (Season 4), Deputy White House Communications Director (Seasons 4-5), Chief of Staff to the Vice President (Seasons 5-6, briefly 7), Russell Campaign Manager (Season 6), White House Communications Director and Press Secretary (Season 7), US Congressman (D-OR) (Season 7, set 3 years later)
|
| |
Tom Bailey (father), Elsie Snuffin (half-sister)
|
is a
Fictional Character played by
Joshua Malina on the
Television Serial Drama ''
The West Wing '', holding various posts in the White House Office of Communications and Office of the Vice President.
Will grew up in
Belgium , as his father was the former
NATO Supreme Allied Commander Thomas Bailey, in whose ideological footsteps he seems to follow while making a name for himself with quiet resolve. Will is also an
Air Force Reservist , a fact that President
Josiah Bartlet applauds, serving in the
JAG Corps . He may have attended
Carnegie Mellon University , since he was seen wearing a Carnegie Mellon shirt while jogging at
Camp David . He appears also to have attended the
University Of Cambridge ,
England , since he claims he was "President of
Cambridge Union Society " on a
Marshall Scholarship . He mentions in one episode that he was valedictorian at
Eton College although in reality no such award exists at the famous British institution.
Will was originally introduced as the manager of the Horton Wilde campaign to represent
California 's 47th
Congress ional District, and gained notoriety for winning the election despite Wilde's death and the seat traditionally being a very safe Republican seat.
Sam Seaborn later ran in Wilde's place in a special election and recommended Will as his replacement as Deputy
White House Communications Director with a note to
Toby Ziegler that read: "Toby — He's one of us." Toby, after first meeting him, characterized Will as "deeply schooled in Eastern philosophy".
When Will moved into Sam's old office for a temporary three-week contract to help with
Bartlet's second
Inaugural Address , he had to endure the requisite amount of
Hazing from the
White House senior staff, including "Seaborn For Congress" posters plastered on the walls and people parking their bicycles in his office. He slowly began to win everyone over, and Bartlet eventually appointed him to replace Sam as Deputy
White House Communications Director .
Will left President Bartlet's staff soon after the appointment of
Representative Bob Russell (D-Colo.) as
Vice President Of The United States , when he accepted Russell's offer to become his chief of staff. The main reasons for his move to Russell's office were Toby's gruff attitude as his direct superior, and more significantly, a belief that Toby's tendency to personally take charge of challenges for the Communications Office would result in zero potential for Will's own job growth. Bob Russell's offer, in contrast, came with the explicit challenge to prepare the Vice President for a possible
Presidential campaign in
2006 . When Russell lost the Democratic nomination to U.S. Rep.
Matt Santos (D-Tex.), Bailey remained on Russell's staff until
White House Chief Of Staff C.J. Cregg "dragooned" him on very short notice to become
White House Communications Director after the firing of
Toby Ziegler for his role in the
Military Space Shuttle leak. Since Toby had also been serving as de facto White House Press Secretary, Will also inherited that role.
In the seventh season he dated Deputy
National Security Advisor Kate Harper . This began when she asked him to Ellie Bartlet's wedding, but their first real date together was in
Running Mates . Their relationship was touched on again in "
The Cold ", where they seemed awkward together.
On Election Day, with the Bartlet Administration soon to be replaced, Will revealed that he was considering returning to California to manage a mayoral race, which caused problems in his relationship with Kate and that plan may have required him to leave
Washington D.C. and end their relationship. In second-to-last episode, Will considers taking a job in the as Chief Executive of the
DCCC , but becomes preoccupied with task of finding a candidate to challenge incumbent
Republican John Heffinger in Oregon's 4th Congressional District in 2008. Kate realises that he would be the perfect candidate, insisting he move to Oregon and run for the seat.
By the time of the dedication of the Bartlet
Presidential Library in
New Hampshire three years later, Will is a Congressman representing the Oregon 4th and sits on the powerful
Ways And Means Committee . He describes himself as a "back bencher who may have a shot at chairman in 32 years." The series is ambiguous about what happened in his relationship with Kate, but it seems that they are not together at the dedication of the library, implying that they broke up because of her reluctance to move to Oregon with him.
