Former Vice President Joe Biden's campaign has a new message from the actor who played Toby Ziegler on The West Wing. Ziegler, the fictional communications director to President Josiah Bartlet, would presumably have known how to spell his boss' name — not Bartlett — but that isn't the only thing fishy about actor Richard Schiff's claim that Ziegler would have backed Biden in the 2020 Democratic primary.

A new fundraising pitch from the Biden campaign under West Wing actor @Richard_Schiff’s name: “Sadly, President Bartlett is just a TV character. But luckily, Joe Biden is real and he is running for president.” pic.twitter.com/DhaN0F7Eg8 — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) September 8, 2019

In Aaron Sorkin's fantasy presidency, Ziegler backed Bartlet (Martin Sheen) in the primary when he was a heavy underdog to the establishment frontrunner, Sen. John Hoynes (D-Texas). Would Ziegler really back Biden? There was skepticism among West Wing fans.

....Toby Ziegler would call Joe Biden a hack. pic.twitter.com/RratruZkwi — Jill Scarson (@jill_scarson) September 8, 2019

It also wasn't clear that Biden should welcome the fictional character's endorsement. Ziegler had a 100 percent failure rate before Bartlet's campaign, and Bartlet eventually fired him for leaking classified information. The consensus is that Ziegler would be a supporter of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), or possibly South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg — who fellow West Wing alumnus Josh Lyman (Bradley Whitford) likes.

A West Wing divided? Toby Ziegler is sending fundraising pitches on behalf of former VP Joe Biden, while Josh Lyman hosted a fundraiser for South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg earlier this year. All eyes on CJ... pic.twitter.com/qfcZmAU2U4 — DJ Judd (@DJJudd) September 8, 2019

But Schiff had his reasons, as he explained in a longer email.

“Joe Biden comes the closest to an Aaron Sorkin character created in the Clinton years” is definitely ... an interesting 2020 Dem primary strategy (c/o the latest Biden campaign email). Richard Schiff is great as Toby, but this is not today’s answer. pic.twitter.com/NAAZx6VqRU — Chris Geidner (@chrisgeidner) September 8, 2019

Still, it's hard to picture Biden giving one of Sorkin's trademark soaring speeches, while you can imagine West Wing music under this speech from Warren, retweeted by Whitford.

The extent to which @ewarren is able to thwart bad faith GOP attacks before they take hold is massively impressive.pic.twitter.com/n1buwckB68 — Brian Tyler Cohen (@briantylercohen) September 5, 2019

On the other hand, Biden and President Bartlet are both Catholic. So there's that. Peter Weber