“Stay tuned...literally,” said Bobkiewicz.Councilwoman Mary Ann Krause, who with the Council was at the forefront of the effort to lobby NBC to officially declare the fictional Senator Vinick – played by award-winning actor Alan Alda – said she was forewarned by Bobkiewicz that the Santa Paula reference would be featured on Sunday’s “The West Wing.”And, Krause added, Santa Paula, Senator Vinick’s hometown, “was spoken very clearly, one of the easiest to understand lines on the whole show.”Senator Vinick’s new campaign manager told him that he should “go back to Santa Paula and make his speech there where people would cheer him and love him.”Krause said she is not going to speculate whether or not Senator Vinick might already be packing for a trip home to Santa Paula but “I’m sure they’ll mention Santa Paula again as they get into the election…I’m pretty confident.”And if Senator Vinick did visit his hometown campaign headquarters at the historic Depot – still festooned with patriotic bunting and where campaign pins and T-shirts are still available for sale – Krause said she would be cheering, albeit with realistic caveats.“If he did come to Santa Paula I would be cheering him and loving him. I think Alan Alda is a wonderful actor and as a presidential candidate his good character traits won out last night…it showed again his Santa Paula upbringing.”
Is Senator Vinick closer to coming home after SP ‘West Wing’ reference?
March 22, 2006
Santa Paula News
Senator Arnold Vinick is edging closer to coming home to Santa Paula.
By Peggy KellySanta Paula TimesSenator Arnold Vinick is edging closer to coming home to Santa Paula.On Sunday’s episode of the NBC series “The West Wing” the words “Santa Paula” were finally spoken.“In an exchange with Senator Vinick on campaign strategy, one of his staffers suggests ‘Go home to Santa Paula’ to make a speech instead of in front of a nuclear power plant that has been in the story line,” said City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz. “Alas, he goes to the power plant for his speech,” but the comment marked the first time that Senator Vinick’s hometown of Santa Paula has actually been mentioned on the program.“A special thanks to Santa Paula’s favorite daughter, Cindy Cunningham,” a city native and former longtime aide to Senator Jack O’Connell for calling from Syracuse, where she is doing graduate studies, with the hometown news alert after the program aired on the East Coast earlier in the evening.Bobkiewicz noted that the tension is building to the Part II of a two-part episode when the results of the presidential election to replace President Bartlett will be announced.Will it be Santa Paula’s favorite son Senator Vinick, who was officially adopted by the city after his kickoff campaign speech noted that he was raised in a California citrus area? Or the younger, Jimmy Smits, playing the more liberal Rep. Santos?
