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Who wants to be the president? By Howard Kurtz, THE WASHINGTON POST Feb. 17 — It’s tempting to make fun of the idea as a cross between “Survivor” and C-SPAN, a frivolous sideshow to the presidential campaign. Which is why it’s a tad disconcerting when executive producer R.J. Cutler insists that his let’s-do-a-show-about-picking-a-presidential-candidate idea will be good for democracy (and presumably ratings). “American Candidate,” which debuts in January (2004) on Rupert Murdoch’s FX network, rides the reality-TV bandwagon by staging a competition to pick a faux presidential candidate. The wannabes — with no official announcement, 5,000 people have already written in — will be whittled down to 18 finalists, all but one of whom will be voted off the political island through phone and Internet polls. “A reporter said to me, ‘Do you mean to tell me our next president is going to be selected by television?’ ” Cutler recalls. But that, arguably, is what happens now. In other words, a process filled with fake media events and ginned-up publicity might illuminate how the real thing works — especially if it’s more interesting than watching Kerry, Gephardt, Edwards, Lieberman et al. trudge through Iowa cornfields...
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