David Palmer on Day 3

Palmer and Keeler at the start of the debate In Day 3, Palmer is faced with re-election and is participating in the first of three debates with Senator John Keeler. However, he is still the President, and is faced with many problems during the day, in addition to dealing with his ongoing campaign. His lover, Anne Packard is implicated in a scandal, and Palmer's brother Wayne tries to buy off her ex-husband, the perpitator of the scandal, who was to be used by Senator Keeler to hurt Palmer's campaign. However, Palmer tells Wayne not to buy off the ex-husband, and he faces the discussions during the debate, saying that Keeler is avoiding questions about real issues to question Palmer's personal life. Meanwhile, the country is faced with a virus threat by Hector Salazar, who demands that his brother Ramon must be released from a US prison. Palmer maintains that he does not negotiate with terrorists, so Jack, with Palmer's consent, breaks Salazar out of the jail. In the debate Keeler talks to Palmer about worker's unions, but Palmer has to pull of the debate to deal with a situation that presents itself regarding Jack and Salazar. He has to decide whether to sacrifice Jack's life by shooting down his chopper so as to kill Ramon Salazar, a man with known terrorists connections. After pursuasion from his brother, Palmer eventually decides to let the military shoot Jack down, however his decision is too late and Jack is over Los Angeles. It would be impossible to shoot him down without causing massive collateral damage. Jack lands the chopper and escapes being caught by US agents. Anne says that she feels guilty for the pressure her ex-husband is causing on Palmer's campaign, and offers to take a break from their relationship until the election is over. Palmer says that he does not want that, and that he needs her. However, Wayne says that to salvage his career he needs to distance himself from Anne. Palmer was horrified by this idea, but after seeing her ex-husband commit suicide, Anne said that she does not want to be in the political spotlight and decides that it is best to end their relationship. She gave him evidence that proved her innocence in Keeler's accusations before leaving, helping to salvage his campaign.

Palmer watches the recording of Jack Soon after Palmer recieved a call from Tony Almeida informing him of their sting operation. He shows Palmer a video of Jack explaining that they were buying the virus from a Ukrainian seller, using the Salazars as the buyer. He explains that he needed to get the Salazars to trust him again, and the best way to do that would be to break Ramon out of prison. He goes on to say that once the virus has been purchased, a CTU team will intercept it and keep it out of harm's way. Palmer was angered that he had been kept out of the loop, but agreed to go ahead with the rest of the operation. Later Palmer recieved a call from Alan Milliken, a support of his campaign who was instrumential in Palmer becoming President, asking if they could meet. Palmer went to his house not far away and Milliken explained that he wanted Palmer to fire Wayne, his Chief of Staff and brother. Milliken explained that he had just learnt of an affair that took place several years before between his wife, Julia, and Wayne, when Milliken was in the hospital recovering from a stroke. Whilst Palmer was shocked that Wayne would do such a thing, he refused to fire him, calling him his closest adviser and friend. Milliken promised Palmer that there would be serious consequences unless he reconsidered, and Palmer told him that he should not threaten the President. Back with Waynem, Palmer expressed anger at Wayne for doing such a stupid thing. Wayne offered to resign, but Palmer refused to allow anything like that to happen because it had been demanded by Alan Milliken. After long consideration, David realised that he would have to lower himself to Milliken's level, and so calls Sherry Palmer and asks for help. She follows a lead to a man named Kevin Kelly who was paid by Milliken to keep quiet after he ran over Kelly's daughter whilst drunk. He told Sherry that he would be willing to testify against Milliken if she and Palmer got his son out of prison. She asked Palmer, but was cautious when he learnt that Kelly's son was convicted for murder. However, Sherry returned to Kelly's house soon after and found him missing, with blood on the wall. Worried she left the scene and went to see Julia Milliken, where she caused Alan's death by stopping him reaching his medication. She returned to the District Offices where Palmer was working from, and told him that she had not gone to Milliken's house. However, when Palmer learnt of Milliken's death she changed her story, but still did not admit she was involved in the death, just claiming that he had a heart attack. Wayne learnt the truth from Julia and confronted Sherry, who insisted that they had to keep the truth from Palmer to protect him. Soon after Wayne brings Palmer some threat assessments, and Palmer detected that something was bothering him. Wayne dismissed it as worry for Palmer, but went on to say that he no longer felt like an asset to his brother's administration, the reason for why he joined. Palmer said that he is an asset, and whilst there were many others he could have picked, he did not trust any of them as much as Wayne. Before Wayne can respond Tony calls him and informs him of a lead that Jack is following up.

Palmer is angry at Sherry Sherry later came to Palmer and explained to him the real truth about what happened at Milliken's house: Sherry stopped Julia from giving Alan his pills. Palmer was angered, but became enraged when he learnt that Sherry had lied to the police, saying that she was with David at the time of Milliken's death. She said that they would be contacting him soon, and he should agree to her statement or it would cause the downfall of his Presidency, as she would claim she was acting on his behalf. Wayne approached David later on and reenforced Sherry's argument, saying that unless he lies and backs up her aliby, Sherry will take David down with her. Palmer said that it was unjust to lie, and told Wayne to get Chief of Police Hendrix awoken and for him to be brought to Palmer immeditely. He arrived, and Palmer verified Sherry's story, though clearly feeling uncomfortable about lying. After Hendrix left Palmer stormed into Sherry's room and told her that he lied for her. She said that no-one would know any different, but Palmer said he would, and told her that he despised her for what she had done, telling her to get out of his sight. He stormed out of the room, leaving Sherry flustered. Later Jack called Palmer and said that the terrorist behind the Cordilla virus threat wanted to speak to him. Stephen Saunders (who was still not known by name demanded that Palmer send someone to pick up a package from across the road from where he was within 10 minutes. Palmer argued that he would not do anything Saunders demanded without an explaination, but Saunders terminated the call. Palmer instantly told Wayne to send someone to pick the package up. Aaron Pierce arrived with the package, a phone that was embedded with an anti-tracking system and was designed to only recieve calls from specific frequencies. The phone soon run and Palmer spoke to Saunders. To prove he was willing to follow Saunders demands, Palmer was asked to hold a press conference, about anything he liked, as long as he used the phrase "the sky is falling". Wayne assessed that it could be a signal for an attack, but Palmer told him to call a press conference, saying that they had to stall for time to allow CTU to find the terrorist. He went ahead with the press conference, using the phrase in a speech about raising the threat level to red, and the grounding of all air traffic within the United States. Saunders called Palmer again later on, and demanded the body of CTU Regional Director Ryan Chappelle to be transported to the trainyard in Downtown Los Angeles by 7:00am. He hung up, and Palmer explained the situation to Wayne who insisted that, whilst killing Chappelle was radical, it was the only way to stop Saunders. Palmer was hesitant. However, he had to agree and told Jack about Saunders demands. Jack agreed to go ahead with the action. Just after 7:00am Jack contacted Wayne Palmer and told him of Chappelle's death, and Wayne passed the news on to Palmer. Palmer contacted Jack, who confirmed that it was likey that Saunders would be willing to release the virus. Palmer told Wayne to assemble the Cabinet. In the Cabinet meeting Wayne explained to the group that the Cordilla virus had been released at the Chandler Plaza Hotel, and that the perpetrator was Stephen Saunders. He also explained Saunders' demands: to use the phrase "the sky is falling" in a press conference and to kill Chappelle. One member asked what Saunders said when Palmer did not comply, evidently unaware of the outcome. Palmer explained that he had to comply, or millions would be killed by the virus. Many, including Vice President Jim Prescott, were clearly shocked that Palmer was willing to go ahead with such an action. Soon after Aaron Pierce arrived with a troupe of Secret Service agents to escort Palmer to Air Force One to remove him from Los Angeles, but after a private word with Piece Palmer manage to convince him to let him stay.

Wayne and David have a moment Palmer then had a conference call with CTU Los Angeles. Tony Almeida explained that they had a way to locate Saunders: with his daughter Jane. Palmer agreed to allow CTU to use Jane as a hostage to exploit Saunders. He then had a press conference, where he explained that the press should convey the message that people should go home to stop the chances of a biological threat being successful. However, Palmer learns that Saunders managed to escape the location that CTU presumed him to be in, and they had no leads to finding him. Soon after Wayne tells Palmer that a source within Keeler's administration told him that Sherry was there meeting privately with Keeler. He asks Palmer why this would be, but he does not know. Wayne says that he will get someone to check upon it. Soon after Keeler arrives to see Palmer, and tells him that he knows that Palmer lied to the Chief of Police about Sherry's whereabouts, making him complicit in the murder of Alan Milliken. He produces an image of a bottle of medicine, belonging to Milliken, with Sherry's fingerprints on it. Keeler asks for Palmer's resignation, but the President tells him to leave. He calls Sherry, and she says that Palmer should have offered her respect like Keeler did, but Palmer says that she is not capable of handling life in jail. She counters that he would not be able to cope with jail, and he hangs up. Later Palmer authorises Wayne to search Sherry's house for medicine bottle. David met with Sherry to distract her away from her house, allowing Wayne and Foxton to search the location. He offered her a position as a councillor, but she refused. She said that she would only back off from Keeler's support if Palmer became her husband again. He agreed to keep her occupied, but she suspected something was wrong. She withdrew her offer and headed back to her house. Palmer called Wayne to inform him of his, who had made no progress in finding the evidence. However, Foxton soon found a hidden cellar with a safe that he began to work on. Wayne hung up on Palmer, promising to call when he had more information.