The White House is hosting a dinner for Nobel laureates but the staff keep getting interrupted by various domestic and international crises. As President Bartlet vetoes the bill to repeal the estate tax, it appears that the Republican Party might have the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto. A representative of the dissenting Democrats is brought in to negotiate a deal with Toby and Sam. Meanwhile, Josh is meeting with Indiana Governor Jack Buckland (Tighe) to talk him out of a potential primary challenge against Bartlet. Leo is at this point getting exasperated by their own partisans taking advantage of the administration's weakness due to the impending hearings over the president's concealment of his MS. He tells Josh to "throw an elbow" and threaten to leak the fact that Buckland tried to blackmail the president. In the end, Josh ends up striking a compromise, while it is Toby and Sam who "throw an elbow" by turning down Democratic Congressman Kimble and offering the same deal to moderate Republican Congressman Robert Royce instead.