I always knew there was a reason I liked Laurence O'Donnell

But I only knew him as a political analyst type of television news show guest.

I had no idea that he was a television show (The West Wing) writer.  

I watched a few episodes of West Wing, but was never a big fan of the show.

Tonight, however, I followed a link to Four Days in Denver, on the New York Magazine online.

I couldn't read it fast enough.

Yea, gads, is that what lies ahead?

I'm a bit sorry to admit that I can see this happening.

It isn't pretty.

On the other hand, the candidate that I support comes out on top in this version of the near future.

So, I'm torn.

Go on, click on over, you know you want to. This is a brief intro, the piece is five pages long, but well worth the time spent!  It's a great read, no matter what you think at the end of the piece.  

Excerpt:

The Democratic Party is closer than it’s ever been to a political nightmare—a deadlocked convention. Though the odds of its actually happening are still remote, the idea is so rich with dramatic possibility that we asked Lawrence O’Donnell Jr., former West Wing writer-producer, to play out a scenario in movie-treatment form. The premise is that Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton arrive in Denver, neither having sufficient delegates

CUT TO:
Harold Ickes hanging up the phone in his hotel suite, the Clinton delegate-counting center.

Ickes: Hey, I just got the lieutenant governor of—
Howard Wolfson: Have you seen Gore? (Grabs a remote, flips on CNN’s live coverage of Al Gore arriving at Denver airport.)
Ickes (shocked): Holy shit!
Wolfson: He’s lost, what, 30 pounds?
Ickes (still can’t believe his eyes): He looks like ...
Wolfson: A fucking candidate!

CUT TO:
Al Gore passes through a hotel lobby and is swarmed by fans and delegates. The fat man from the sex scene fights his way close to Gore. A Gore aide whispers the fat man’s name to Gore.

Fat man: Hey, Al, remember me? I’m the lieutenant govern—
Gore: Hey, Pete, great to see you. Are you committed?
Fat man: Well, actually, I just said yes to Hillary, but if you throw your hat in the—
Gore: Hey, I’m just here to help any way I can.
Fat man: You look just unbelievable.

CUT TO:
Brian Williams sets the table with his solemn intro to NBC’s coverage: The pledged delegate score is Obama 1,688, Clinton 1,539; Obama holds a slim popular-vote lead of 1.5 percent with 30 million votes cast; 263 superdelegates remain uncommitted. Anything can happen.

Howard Dean opens the convention and gets booed off the stage. The delegates hold him responsible for the mess they’re in. Dean grabs Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi as he rushes out of the convention hall. Dean tells them they’ve gotta figure out a way to stop the bleeding tonight. Dean, Reid, and Pelosi get heckled by passing delegates as Obama Girl happily signs autographs in the background.

Midnight. Dean’s suite. Party leadership meets. Where’s Gore? He said he’d be here. Someone points to a TV.

Gore (on CNN): No, Anderson, I’m not here as a candidate. I’m just trying to be helpful in any way I can.