Danny Concannon

Daniel Concannon
Danny in the episode The State Dinner
First appearance	A Proportional Response
Last appearance	Institutional Memory
Created by	Aaron Sorkin
Portrayed by	Timothy Busfield
Information
Occupation	Senior White House Correspondent from The Washington Post (Season 1-7)
Family	A sister (unnamed, unseen)
Spouse(s)	C.J. Cregg (by 2009)
Children	One in the future with C.J. Cregg

Daniel "Danny" Concannon is a fictional White House correspondent for the Washington Post played by Timothy Busfield on the television serial drama The West Wing. Danny first appeared in the third episode of Season 1, "A Proportional Response," where he mentioned that he had been a White House reporter for the past seven years. He has reported from the White House for the Washington Post, New York Times, Time Magazine and the Dallas Morning News. He is said to have been in step with the Bartlet campaign during the 1998 election. He, like President Bartlet is an alumnus of the University of Notre Dame.

In addition to having a long-standing on-again/off-again romance with White House Press Secretary turned Chief of Staff C.J. Cregg, Danny appears to be the correspondent who is the most steadfastly supportive of the Bartlet administration, and he appears to have a good friendship with President Josiah Bartlet, Leo McGarry, Charlie Young and, in particular, Josh Lyman. In the ninth episode, "The Short List," Danny offers Josh advice on determining the motivation behind a congressman's call for investigation of drug use by White House staff, and Josh shows his gratitude by sharing that C.J. loves "goldfish." Eager for a way to win her heart, Danny presents C.J. with a fish named Gail, only to discover that the goldfish C.J. likes are goldfish crackers. C.J. is still pleased by the gift and the fish is mentioned by name in several episodes across the run of the series.

Despite his friendship toward the staff, Danny is the first to break a few of the more controversial stories that arose in the Bartlet White House, and he shows a willingness to criticize the Administration if he feels it is appropriate. In his first appearance, he tells C.J. that he knows that Sam Seaborn has a friend who is a call girl, but he decides to drop the story at C.J.'s urging although he warns her "not everybody is a good guy [like me]" (indeed, a tabloid newspaper publishes the story later that year); C.J. thanks him by letting him be the first to know of a story that breaks while he is there in her office, "for being a good guy." Near the end of season one, Danny also recovers a memo written for a campaign by Mandy Hampton before she came to work in the White House. The memo listed Mandy's perception of the weaknesses and shortcomings of the Bartlet administration. Even though C.J. asked him not to run with this story either, this time Danny felt it was newsworthy and decided to file it, straining their relationship briefly (as seen in "Let Bartlet Be Bartlet").

Near the beginning of season 2, Danny was offered a job as an editor at The Washington Post. C.J. was hoping that he would take it, believing that they could never have a real relationship while he was a reporter, but Danny turned the job down. Sometime after this he apparently became a foreign correspondent as he was not seen for all of season three and the first part of season four. He made his return in the episode "Holy Night" of the fourth season, surprising C.J. by dressing up as Santa Claus, but things became very serious when Danny confessed to her he had evidence to suggest the U.S. was behind the death of Abdul Shareef. Danny was investigating the story for most of the fourth season, finally getting enough evidence to file by the end of it. He was persuaded to hold off by Leo McGarry, who cited national security concerns.

Danny won the Pulitzer Prize for journalism; C.J. mentioned in Season 4 that "he won it from the fourth row [of the Press Briefing Room]". Apparently, he wrote a biography on the First Lady Abbey Bartlet, as in a Season 1 episode the President points out to Danny "You literally wrote the book on my wife."

Danny and C.J. Cregg renew their relationship for good in season seven. They have two dinner dates in "Internal Displacement"; C.J. is too distracted by her job to focus on Danny's courtship of her, but she takes to heart his injunction to make the final months of the Bartlet presidency count. When Leo McGarry dies suddenly on election night, C.J. turns to Danny for comfort ("Requiem"). They continue to struggle with the dynamics of their relationship in "Institutional Memory", but C.J. ultimately decides to turn down a position in the Santos administration in order to move to California with Danny, where she will administer a multi-billion-dollar charitable foundation. Three years later, at the dedication of President Bartlet's presidential library (portrayed in "The Ticket"), Danny and C.J. are married and live in Santa Monica, California with their child.

See also

• The West Wing
• List of characters on The West Wing
• List of politicians on The West Wing
• List of The West Wing episodes