The Contender (2000)

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"...principles only mean something if you stick by them when they're inconvenient."

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When the Vice-President dies, Democratic President Jackson Evans (Jeff Bridges) must appoint a replacement. Approaching the end of his second term, he wants to leave an important legacy and therefore nominates Senator Laine Hanson (Joan Allen), D-OH, a former Republican.

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But Congressman Sheldon "Shelly" Runyon, R-IL, (Gary Oldman), a major Republican opponent of the President, leads a McCarthy-esque witch hunt guised as the Congressional confirmation hearing. Runyon is set to discredit Senator Hanson on the basis of reports of her sexual indiscretion when she was in college. Fact of the matter is, the very conservative and disingenuous Runyon is opposed to all of Senator Hanson's positions on the abortion issue and religion, and his obvious disdain for powerful women. He seeks to humiliate her in whatever way he can.

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Some very interesting twists that made it a real keep-watching political thriller. Interesting, too, in the comparisons to President Clinton's indiscretions, references to Chappaquiddick. and a certain prophetic tone that hit home in terms of the 2008 presidential campaigns, the election of a fresh new attitude in Washington in 2009, and the national embarrassment of the gubernatorial scandal in Illinois.

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Also appearing are Christian Slater as the young senator and rising Democratic star from Delaware, Sam Elliott as a President's Chief of Staff, William Petersen as the Virginia governor who had been the preferred vice-presidential contender but was by-passed by the President, Saul Rubinek as the President's press secretary, Mike Binder as Senator Hanson's legal counsel, Philip Baker Hall as Senator Hanson's father and former Republican Governor of Ohio, Robin Thomas as Senator Hanson's husband and former campaign manager, Mariel Hemingway as Senator Hanson's former college chum and ex-wife of Hanson's current husband, Kathryn Morris as the FBI agent who thoroughly investigates the Virginia governor and Senator Hanson, Noah Fryrear as the Hanson's six-year-old son.

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Jeff Bridges and Kim Carnes sing the opening song -- "Ring of Fire" -- which all just seems so right!

Some of my favorite quotes from the film:

President Jackson Evans: "It pains my soul to tell you that you have brought blood and shame under this great dome. Your leadership has raised the stakes of hate to a new level where we can no longer separate the demagogue from the truly inspired. And believe this, there are traitors among us."

Senator Laine Hanson's closing statement at her confirmation hearing: "...and, Mr. Chairman, I stand for the separation of Church and State, and the reason that I stand for that is the same reason that I believe our forefathers did. It is not there to protect religion from the grasp of government but to protect our government from the grasp of religious fanaticism. Now, I may be an atheist, but that does not mean I do not go to church. I do go to church. The church I go to is the one that emancipated the slaves, that gave women the right to vote, that gave us every freedom that we hold dear. My church is this very Chapel of Democracy that we sit in together, and I do not need God to tell me what are my moral absolutes. I need my heart, my brain, and this church."

Written and directed by Rod Lurie.

Run time: 2 hours, 7 minutes

Rated R for strong sexual content and language.

My personal rating: A