heart attack but later returns to work as Special Counsellor to the President. CJ Cregg succeeds him as chief of staff. On a trip to China, Bartlet is left temporarily paralyzed by an attack of multiple sclerosis. As a result, he briefly uses a wheelchair, but soon recovers although he is left somewhat weakened by the attack. After seeing Congressman Matt Santos' stirring speech at the Democratic National Convention, Bartlet has a chat with a New York Democratic leader who had previously refused to support Santos due to concerns over education policy; the leader reverses his course and Santos becomes the Democratic nominee for president. In the seventh and final season of The West Wing, Bartlet is in the last year of his term as president. Near the end of the season, Congressman Matt Santos of Texas defeats the Republican nominee, Senator Arnold Vinick of California, in the 2006 presidential election and thereby becomes Bartlet's successor. After Santos' inauguration, Bartlet returns to his New Hampshire home aboard Air Force One with his wife and while en route has the last word of the series. Mrs. Bartlet asks the introspective former president what he is thinking about, and Bartlet replies: "Tomorrow." The Bartlet Presidential Library opens three years after the end of his term and Bartlet is present at the opening ceremony, along with Kate Harper, C. J. Cregg, Danny Concannon, Charlie Young, Toby Ziegler, Josh Lyman, and Will Bailey. The new president does not appear, as this scene occurs in a flash forward during season seven, before the election. West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin briefly revived the character for Maureen Dowd's September 20, 2008 New York Times column, where he scripted a hypothetical meeting between Bartlet and then-Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. He did the same after Obama's first debate against Mitt Romney in 2012. Reception The West Wings portrayal of multiple sclerosis through Bartlet was applauded by Mike Dugan, president of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Dugan stated that the group was especially pleased that the affected character was a world leader, that the show educated viewers about MS and made it clear the disease is not fatal, and that Bartlet was shown as taking advantage of medical breakthroughs to treat his condition. "Since fiction often becomes more real to people than fact, President Bartlet's life with MS has the potential for great good," he said, suggesting that as