Running Mates (film)

Running Mates is a 2000 American political comedydrama television film directed by Ron Lagomarsino and starring Tom Selleck. The film follows the presidential election campaign of James Pryce, a Democratic Party presidential candidate, who has a hard time deciding whom to pick as his vicepresidential running mate. Laura Linney, Nancy Travis, Faye Dunaway, and Teri Hatcher also star as Pryces current or former love interests who have had a major influence on his success so far, but who also have a great deal of control over his decisions.

Michigan Governor James Reynolds Pryce Tom Selleck is a popular liberal politician who, while running for the office of the President of the United States, finds out to what a great degree his life and career are influenced by the women in his life. As a frontrunner for the Democratic Party presidential candidate, Pryce owes the success of his campaign to his manager Lauren Hartman Laura Linney and his wife Jennifer Nancy Travis. Pryce has not yet chosen a vicepresidential running mate and has a hard time making the decision. Senator Parker Gable Robert Culp was something of a mentor to Pryce in his early political career, but Gable is a womanizer which makes Pryce uncomfortable with making him the vicepresidential candidate. Nevertheless, Gables Washington socialite wife Meg Faye Dunaway considers Gable to be the best choice and tries to exert pressure over Pryce to make this happen. Pryces other choices are Senator Mitchell Morris Bruce McGill, a lobbyist whom Pryce dislikes due to his close ties to Big Business, and Senator Terrence Randall Bob Gunton, who is disliked by Pryces shallow Hollywood campaign fundraising manager Shawna Morgan Teri Hatcher. Being previously sexually involved with Lauren, Meg, and Shawna before marrying Jennifer makes listening to their advice all that much harder for Pryce. All four women are seemingly more intent on exerting control over Pryce and winning their own personal battles against each other rather than honestly trying to help him make the correct political decision.Running Mates was intended to give the viewers a somewhat realistic although humorous and exaggerated insight into politics and decisionmaking of presidential campaigns, so Gerald Rafshoon was brought on board. Rafshoon was the media manager during Jimmy Carters presidential campaign, as well as his tenure in the White House. A private screening of the film was held for Carter, after which he agreed the film was, indeed, realistic. In a

Source: Wikipedia