The Axe Files, featuring David Axelrod, is a podcast distributed by CNN and produced at the University of Chicago Institute of Politics. The author works for the podcast.

Los Angeles (CNN) Eli Attie spent years as a speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore. So when Attie made the transition to Hollywood as a writer for "The West Wing," he was shocked to learn what an elevated place his fictionalized counterparts held in the imagination of the show's creator, Aaron Sorkin.

"[Sorkin] had this kind of erroneous and wonderful view that speechwriting was noble and sexy and glamorous," Attie told David Axelrod on "The Axe Files" podcast, produced by the University of Chicago Institute of Politics and CNN.





To get "The Axe Files" podcast every week, subscribe at http://itunes.com/theaxefiles. Pointing out that actor Rob Lowe ("the handsomest character on 'The West Wing'") was cast as the show's chief speechwriter for a reason, Attie continued, "It was just kind of a joke to me because, as you know, speechwriters are so kicked around and marginalized at times."

Attie never envisioned being a screenwriter, and certainly not for "The West Wing," a show that he remembers being underwhelmed by the first time he saw an episode. "I had seen 20 minutes of it and it hadn't landed with me; it hadn't resonated with me," he said.

He did, however, know that politics could be fertile ground for dramatization. As a young aide to New York Mayor David Dinkins, Attie would sit in on high-level meetings and observe political events, and soon became struck by "the unreality" of it all.

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