Season 3: 2001–2002 Cast: Rob Low e, Sto ckard Channing , Dulé  Hill, Allison  Janney, J anel Moloney, Richa rd Schiff,  John Spen cer, Bra dley Whitford a nd Martin Sh een The t hird season, which  covers the admi nistration&a mp;#39;s th ird and fourth years in offi ce, star ts off wi th Bartlet a nnouncing h is inten tion to run for reelection  and is heavil y devoted to the upcoming pr esidential election. O ther promin ent plotl ines include C ongress ional i nvestiga tions in to whether B artlet com mitted electora l fraud by co ncealing h is MS,  a death  threat aga inst C.J. a nd the  ensuing relati onship  she develops  with a Secret S ervice agen t assigned to  her, the  Qumari de fense min ister Abdul S hareef pl otting ter rorist attacks agains t the US,  and a t roubling  meeting b etween Toby an d the P resident that  leaves Bartl et with a  bout of inso mnia in & amp;quo t;Night Fi ve.&quo t; The  season finale , &amp ;quot;P osse Comitat us&q uot; closes  several of  these s torylines  as Bartlet  meets hi s opponent in the elect ions and reaffi rms his comm itment to bea t him. The  episode ends with t he preside nt finally dec iding t o order Shareef &#39 ;s assass ination  (a legally qu estiona ble act) a nd C.J.&a mp;#39;s agent 's murder, just  after the man  threatening C.J. was caught. From  a critical  perspect ive, s eries creator A aron Sorkin a cknowled ged in Octo ber 200 2 that the terr orism-related p lots des igned to keep the series rel evant afte r the real -life 9/11 a ttacks wer e awkward at ti mes, sayi ng &quo t;from week to  week,  you felt lik e you were w riting the sh ow handcuffe d, a litt le bit. I didn 't kn ow how t o write it anym ore. It was a co nstant se arch for what  I wasn' t doing that us ed to mak e the show wo rk. [...] Maybe there was a way to ma ke it wor k; there probably w as. I wasn&amp ;#39;t abl e to find i t in twen ty-two  episodes. &qu ot; [1] None theless,  the show went  on to win its t hird & quot;Outstandin g Drama "  Emmy in a row.！