My resting pulse as a writer is writing idealistically and romantically; aspirationally. My taste lies in quixotic heroes.

Certainly, last year we did an episode about the census and sampling versus a direct statistic. You just said the word 'census', and people fall asleep.

I'll get cast occasionally as sort of the jerk version of myself, and I have fun doing that. But it's really better for everyone if I stay behind the camera.

Pretty much up until The West Wing, our leaders had always been portrayed in popular culture as either Machiavellian or dolts. But I thought, "What if we show a group of people who are highly competent, they're going to lose as much as they win, but we're going to understand that they wake up every morning wanting to do good?" That was really the spirit behind The West Wing.

The guy who wins the Oscar for Best Actor has a much higher bar to clear than the woman who wins best actress.

I've never met anyone who has said, "My goal is to make America mediocre." That's a kind of hard-right conservative fallacy.

If I get an idea for a series that I really like, I'm sure I won't be able to resist coming back and doing it.