Barry Goodwin was a respected former chair of the DNC, advisor to Matt Santos’ presidential campaign, and head of President-elect Santos’s transition team.
When the Santos campaign was trailing and had failed to invest in the key state of Illinois, Goodwin joined with other party elders to suggest that Santos replace campaign manager Josh Lyman with the more experienced Leo McGarry, who was also Santos' running mate. While this didn’t happen and Lyman would go on to become White House Chief of Staff after Santos won, Santos still picked Goodwin rather than Lyman to head the transition process, to Josh’s dismay. Goodwin also advised the campaign on legal contingencies in the case of a contested election, and was suggested by Lyman as a potential Attorney General candidate (though Santos would eventually select Oliver Babish instead).