'WEST WING' ACTORS CAST THEIR BALLOTS.

Byline: Valerie Kuklenski Staff Writer

The big televised debate is behind them, and now the campaigning can begin in earnest.

There's the scripted campaigning that will take place in upcoming episodes of NBC's ``The West Wing,'' in which Republican Sen. Arnold Vinick (Alan Alda) and Democratic Rep. Matt Santos (Jimmy Smits) are looking to succeed President Josiah Bartlet (Martin Sheen).

Then there's the jockeying among the series regulars to curry favor with executive producer and head writer John Wells, in whose hands their future rests. Many of the show's stars were lobbying as intently as any K Street pro Monday night in Beverly Hills at the Museum of Television & Radio gala, which honored Wells and Peter Chernin, president of News Corp. and chairman of the Fox Group.

``We're all whispering (on the set) because we don't know who's going to win, and we don't know who's going to have a job,'' said Kristin Chenoweth, who joined the series last year as media consultant Annabeth Schott, originally a Bartlet staffer now working on the Santos campaign. John Spencer, Allison Janney and others playing roles in a Democratic administration would need Santos in office to stay on as regulars.

For his part, Wells said he has not yet decided who will win his faux race.

``I have to write the election episode sometime before Christmas,'' he said. ``I haven't decided how it's going to go.''

Bradley Whitford, who plays Bartlet staffer-turned-Santos campaign manager Josh Lyman, made no secret of his allegiance.

``Santos is going to win - and I say that not as an actor but as his campaign manager,'' he said before the dinner began.

Whoever wins, it appears he will not finish one term, let alone two. The once-popular series, winner of four outstanding drama series Emmys, has lost a large chunk of its audience in its seventh season, in part because of its move to Sunday night against ABC's formidable lineup and in part because of NBC's overall ratings slump. Asked whether New Yorker Alda, who turns 70 in January, would be up for a long-term commitment to a series filmed in Burbank, Wells said, ``We're lucky if we have another year, so I don't think that'll be an issue.''

Valerie Kuklenski, [phone]

valerie.kuklenski(at)dailynews.com