Confronting sagging ratings, the producers of The West Wing plan to take a more bipartisan approach next season, focusing in initial episodes on the character portrayed by John Goodman, a conservative speaker of the House, who takes over as the country's leader. (In the season finale, which was repeated on Wednesday, the president, portrayed by Martin Sheen, temporarily steps down during an international crisis in which his daughter is kidnapped. Speaking to reporters during a conference call on Thursday, exec producer John Wells, who is taking over from creator/writer Aaron Sorkin, said that the views of a conservative Congress will...