1. Arnold Vinick is a fictional character from the television series The West Wing played by Alan Alda.
22 Facts About Arnold Vinick
1. 2.
Arnold Vinick is a social moderate and fiscal conservative with a maverick streak and direct manner, whose policies are loosely based on those of real-life Arizona senators John McCain and Barry Goldwater.
3.
Arnold Vinick is moderately pro-choice in the sense that he is opposed to partial-birth abortion and in favor of parental consent laws.
4.
Arnold Vinick is in favor of immigration reform and against gay marriage but is reluctant to use it as a campaign issue.
5.
Arnold Vinick opposes the Religious Right's influence in the Republican Party and wants to return to more traditional, limited government conservatism.
6.
Arnold Vinick has been described as a deficit hawk, supporting "two-for-one" tax and spending cuts.
7.
Arnold Vinick is conservative on law-and-order issues, such as gun rights, border security, and the death penalty.
8.
Arnold Vinick is mixed on foreign policy as he believes in a strong national defense and supports tough action against Iran, but was described as an ally of Democratic President Josiah Bartlet on foreign policy issues and potentially an advocate for loosening the embargo on Cuba.
9.
In one episode, Arnold Vinick mentioned growing up in a "citrus-growing" community.
10.
Arnold Vinick was married to Catherine Arnold Vinick for around 30 years before she died.
11.
Arnold Vinick has one brother, four children, and nine grandchildren.
12.
Arnold Vinick was eventually elected to the city council in the town's first write-in victory.
13.
Arnold Vinick served one term on the board before being elected to the California State Assembly.
14.
Arnold Vinick was offered the post of Ambassador to the United Nations by President Josiah Bartlet's Deputy Chief of Staff, Josh Lyman, but declined as he intended to run for president.
15.
Arnold Vinick opposes federal funding for ethanol as an alcohol fuel, considering it a political boondoggle.
16.
Shortly after winning the nomination, Arnold Vinick met with Bartlet, with whom he shares a mutual respect, to discuss a deal to raise both the federal debt ceiling and the national minimum wage.
17.
Arnold Vinick is heckled by a member of the audience for claiming that Head Start didn't work, but perhaps his most surprising comment and show of blunt honesty is his remark that he would not create any new jobs, saying that, in a free society, entrepreneurs, not the government, create jobs.
18.
The reactor does not melt down, although when the story breaks that Arnold Vinick was a significant supporter of the plant, his poll numbers drop dramatically, putting numerous states, including California, into play and causing the election to become too close to call.
19.
Arnold Vinick's strategy seems to work, as he returns to his straight-talking style, exhausting reporters of their questions and commandeering live news coverage of his opponent's campaign.
20.
Arnold Vinick concedes the election after Nevada, the decisive state, is carried by Santos by about 30,000 votes.
21.
Arnold Vinick is last seen in the series finale attending the presidential inauguration, with the news reporting that he will be joining the Santos administration.
22.
An April 10,2006, article in The New York Times reported that, if not for the death of actor John Spencer, Arnold Vinick would have won the election.