Last night on The West Wing there was a story line about a congressional hopeful who died just before the election. His campaign team kept at it, because if their (now deceased) candidate wins, they can bring in a new candidate for the special election. The White House asks them to stop the compaign because it has become an embarrassment to the party.

Funny thing is, this episode was obviously in the can before Wellstone's death. And the writers thought it obviously ridiculous to compaign for a dead man, in the hopes you'd get a second shot in a special election. Even Hollywood scripwriters won't try to convince us of the things today's politicians actually do as a matter of course.