Bridget Mary McCormack

CNN reports on how a Michigan judicial candidate got a big-time boost from Hollywood and social media (and gave a lesson on election procedure):

Bridget Mary McCormack, whose sister Mary McCormack played deputy national security adviser Kate Harper on NBC's television series "The West Wing," is on the ballot this fall in Michigan as a nonpartisan candidate for the state's Supreme Court.

Her campaign "The Bridget Mary McCormack for Justice Campaign" has paid for a YouTube video that has the show's cast reprising their roles as West Wing problem solvers focusing on the thorny issue of the nonpartisan section of the ballot, and one particular cast member's sister who happens to be on it.

Hoping to boost November turnout for candidate McCormack and to drive general nonpartisan ballot voting awareness, the "West Wing" star and her former cast mates shot two versions of the four minute video which taps into several quintessential moments from the hit show. One version focuses strictly on promoting nonpartisan ballot awareness and the other also advocates for McCormack.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the campaign does not plan to air the video as a paid advertisement.