Ainsley Hayes is a fictional character played by Emily Procter on The West Wing, an American serial political drama. Primarily appearing in the second and third seasons for a total of twelve episodes, Ainsley served as the Associate White House Counsel under the show's president, Josiah Bartlet. Reception for Ainsley has ranged from mixed to positive; she is characterized as smart and flirtatious, but also vulnerable to sexism from other characters and the show's writing. Creation and development Ainsley Hayes first appears in The West Wing second season, in the 2000 episode "In This White House". Emily Procter, then a struggling actress in a Beverly Hills apartment, read for the role. She later told Empire magazine that she had driven a run-down car to the audition. She also recalled that her "strange, pulled-together outfit", which included purple pants, caused her to have to come back and repeat the audition. Ainsley was originally scripted as a Republican from the western state of Montana, but Procter read her lines with a Southern accent. On Procter's first day of work, the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin, asked her whether she would like the character to be from North Carolina instead. She accepted, later remarking that it was "such a sweet thing to do". Sorkin wrote in the official companion book to The West Wing that Ainsley was created to attract younger women to the show. However, he also commented that she was intended to counter a trend he perceived at the time in which "young, blond, and leggy" Republican women frequently worked as unintelligent commentators. Indeed, Ainsley's character has drawn multiple comparisons to real-life American political commentator Ann Coulter, but Sorkin counters that "Ainsley Hayes has an extraordinary sense of duty. When her president asks her to serve, she agrees, which makes her perfect for us". In Ainsley's first scene, the other characters assume she embodies the stereotype, with Sam Seaborn referring to her as a "young, blonde, leggy Republican". The characters are then proved mistaken when Ainsley reveals her prowess as a debater. Ainsley never became a regular character on the show; Sorkin was concerned about the feasibility of including another character in every episode, telling Empire magazine that he "already had eight mouths to feed". In the end, Sorkin regretted his decision to not incorporate Ainsley, calling it the biggest mistake he had made in the show's seven-season run. For her part,