Running Mates

Running Mates
SpongeBob and Sandy compete for school board president.
Season: 2 Episode: 10
Total Episode Count: 17
Prod. no.: 1ACX09
Featuring: SpongeBob, Sandy
Also Appearing: Randall Fargus , Fred, Squidward, Tom, Plankton, Patrick, Pearl, Bob, Barbara, Lieana Takanawa, Principal Solan, Betsy LaBeau, James Carville, Fab Morvan, Fred Rogers
Plot: Patrick's principal at Buddy Cianci Junior High calls and reports that Patrick was caught peeking into the girls' locker room. While at the school to discuss Patrick's situation, his friend SpongeBob spots Mr. Fargus, who had been his favorite teacher. Fargus id much more subdued than SpongeBob remembers due to the medication the school board orders him to take. SpongeBob throws the medication away, hoping he will once again be a wacky, inspiring teacher.
To keep Patrick out of trouble while dealing with his natural curiosity about women, SpongeBob gives him a pile of his old skin mags. A news flash reports that Mr. Fargus, off his medication and unbalanced, conducted a student egg drop event using the eggs of the "endangered California condor". Fargus is immediately fired by his lack of judgement. The same news report mentions that school board candidate Betsy LeBeau has withdrawn, leaving Sandy unopposed. SpongeBob demands that Sandy get Fargus' job back, which Sandy refuses to do. SpongeBob, convinced that Mr. Fargus' firing was unfair, decides to enter the race for school board president as well.
Meanwhile, Patrick begins showing his new bound trove of ********phy to school buddies, and Plankton begins to realize that he misses Sandy acting as foil to his schemes. Tom expresses concern for SpongeBob's campaign, since he has no one to support entering a debate. Predictably, SpongeBob retorts to Sandy's well-thought-out platform with personal insults and nonsense. He gains support from the crowd until Sandy, whose desire to win gets better of her, points out his ignorance and lack of experience. SpongeBob responds by claiming Sandy eats babies.
Watching election night results on television, Sandy and Squidward see a horrifying ad from SpongeBob. He displays a picture of her in s***py lingerie and calls her a s**t. The ad works, and SpongeBob is elected in a landslide victory. Sandy furiously demands that he had better do something worthwhile with his presidency besides reinstating a crazy teacher. Incredibly, SpongeBob does institute some landmark programs within a few short weeks, which surprises Sandy. During a live interview with Asian reporter Lieana Takanawa, however SpongeBob's popularity crashes in the ensuing scandal, and in desperation, Fred hires political consulant James Carville, and advises SpongeBob to blame Sandy for the ********phy. In a public statement, SpongeBob attempts to pass the buck to Sandy, but is unable to follow through and admits responsibility. He states his regret over humiliating his friend for the election and resigns from his post, boarding a helicopter in a parody of Richard Nixon's post-resignation departure from the White House.
During the credits, Mr. Fargus returns to work.
==Cutaways==
#Background checks
#Developers
#Clown dissection
#Mr. Fargus teaches SpongeBob to dance
#Peeping Mr. Rogers
#SpongeBob loses at checkers
#The Six Dollar Man
#Juarez SquarePants
==Trivia==
*This is the first time SpongeBob and Sandy go against each other for school board president.
==Reception==
In his 2008 review, Ahsan Haque of IGN, rating the episode a 9/10, stated that "Running Mates" is "one of the stronger outings of the excellent second season" and said that it is "entertaining, cleverly written" and features "a very strong tightly woven storyline".
==Rating==
TV-14: LS
==Gallery==
Calv-p.png|French title card
RM.png|Japanese title card
Lndc.png|Spanish title card
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Category:List of Family Sponge Episodes
Category:Family Sponge Season 2
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