Gossip, gossip, gossip! It’s all gossip on the “West Wing” this week and it makes for a fine episode. One week before the season finale and man, things are getting good. We switch back and forth from the election to the current lame-duck administration.

On the Bartlet front, the staff is dealing with three stranded astronauts on the International Space Station, and trying to keep the entire Democratic Party from imploding before the convention. The International Space Station seems to have a bit of an O2 problem and if a rescue mission isn’t sent, the astronauts will be dead in three weeks. Of course, the regular space shuttles are all in the shop and won’t be flight ready in that amount of time. The only option is to send a super secret military shuttle, which is being developed so that we can drop bombs on people from space. C.J says the hell with national security, send the shuttle up there. The president and his advisors aren’t so certain.

Over at Who Wants to Be the Next Democratic Presidential Nominee, Bingo Bob asks Santos to be his VP pick, as a way to show some cohesion within the party to the public at large before the convention. Josh rushes to bring the offer to Santos and interrupts him and his wife in the middle of a make-out session. Hilariously, he doesn’t even offer to leave, he just stands there while they button up. Politics obviously means more to him than nookie.