LOS ANGELES (KRT) – Somehow, this election cycle wouldn’t be complete without its own reality TV show. Enter “The American Candidate.”

This summer 10 ordinary Americans were chosen to take part in the first-ever presidential campaign simulated for television. They organized rallies, did meet-and-greets, got advice from campaign consultants and held debates.

In the early episodes of the show, which has its premiere at 9 EDT tonight on Showtime, the contestants will vote one another off, one a week. When the race is down to three candidates, it’s the viewers who will cast the deciding ballots. The last candidate standing will take home $200,000 as winner of “The American Candidate.”

The series is the brainchild of documentary filmmaker R.J. Cutler, who shadowed Oliver North during his 1994 losing bid for the U.S. Senate in “A Perfect Candidate.”

He first talked about the idea about two years ago when it was slated for FX. FX later changed its mind. Kevin Reilly, the FX executive Cutler says came up with the idea, is now at NBC.

In Cutler’s L.A. offices in early 2003, was three-ring binder filled with letters from people who already had written, unsolicited, wanting to be on the program. As we perused the letters, it was clear Cutler had tapped into something. These people didn’t just want to be on a reality show. They wanted to serve their country. Feeling disenfranchised from government, they believed the power of TV would allow them to give back to the nation that had given them so much.

“I’m a common man with common thoughts and everyday ideas,” read one letter whose simplicity touched me. “Given a chance I could win this thing and do some good for everyday people in the process.”

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Six men and four women were chosen this spring from thousands of candidates who applied online at the show’s Web site, americancandidate.com . They include the gay daughter of Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, a former aide to President Clinton from St. Louis, a sheriff who successfully challenged the Brady gun bill and a former top official with the EPA.

Mixed in with these seasoned political observers are a 55-year-old talk radio host from Arkansas City, Kan.; a venture capitalist from L.A.; a business manager from New York; a public school teacher who backs President Bush; an animal-rights activist; and a 27-year-old Hawaiian involved in that most democratic of duties, getting people to vote.

Appearing with the 10 candidates at this month’s press tour for TV critics, Cutler allowed as how these were not just everyday people – by design. They were people with strong views who all felt, in one way or another, alienated by the current two-party political system.

“They represent points of view that are not straight-arrow mainstream politics,” Cutler said. “They’re saying, “Hey, my point of view got 8 percent of the vote, why isn’t my viewpoint 8 percent of the government?’ “

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People like Joyce Riley, a onetime combat nurse who moved four years ago from her native Kansas to Versailles, Mo. In the first hour of “The American Candidate,” she makes clear what is fueling her run for the presidency: She feels veterans have gotten a raw deal from the government, which is no longer in touch with the needs of its people.

“This government is broken,” she said in an interview. “We have a car that’s broken. It’s not running. The Republicans want to paint it and the Democrats want to take the dents out of it. But they expect it to run. It’s not going to run.”

Speaking of running, it should be pointed out that “The American Candidate” will not actually help the winner of its TV competition run for president. The Web site states the contest will select one person “who has the qualities to be president of the United States.” Nothing more. (Some of the candidates, Chrissy Gephardt among them, are below the constitutional age requirement anyway.)

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However, several of the finalists said that the program made them realize what real-life candidates have to go through. In the first eight episodes, which have already taped, the finalists were advised by top political consultants and strategists including GOP adviser Ed Rollins, Howard Dean’s onetime campaign guru Joe Trippi and pollster Frank Luntz.

Time and again the candidates found themselves caught in the dilemma that is a unique to the American system: They could stick to their core beliefs and watch their candidacies wilt; or they could fudge a little and pick up support. For the candidates, many of whom hold cherished beliefs on gun rights or health care, it became all too easy to dial down the rhetoric in the heat of battle.

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“I’ve been working on veterans issues for a long time,” Riley said. “But I felt like a totally different animal here. Here I was meeting people, pressing the flesh, trying to get their vote, trying to decide: Is it more important that I get their vote, or that I do what’s important to me? That was the conflict we started running into.

“It was horrendous. I still have nightmares about it. Because it was – do I compromise? Or do I lose the vote? You start off thinking, “This is me, this is what I believe in.’ Then you find out, not a lot of people are like that. … and then one of the advisors tells you, “Well, if you would do this you would be a whole lot better off.’ But what if that goes against your conscience? Would you do it anyway?”

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Each week the candidates must complete a campaign-related challenge. For example, in tonight’s episode they are given a short time to organize a rally for themselves in the city or town of their choice. The two candidates who are judged least competent at their tasks (in this case, the two that draw the smallest crowds to their rallies) must then debate each other in front of the other candidates.

With the show’s host, Montel Williams, serving as moderator, the debates are one part town-hall meeting, one part tribal council. Afterward, the remaining candidates step into an actual voting booth, one by one, and decide which of the two marked for elimination will advance to the next round.

That’s the only time “The American Candidate” feels like a garden-variety TV show. The rest of the hour resembles a Green Party documentary, where the stakes are low (because nobody’s got a prayer of getting elected), and yet the pressure to perform (and win those 200 G’s) constantly forces each candidate to evaluate his or her core beliefs.

In the end, Cutler said, only the strong survived.

“The candidates went out and spoke their minds. Spoke them freely. In some cases they lost and went home, woke up the next day and realized that what mattered to them was more important than winning.

“And yet,” he added, “winning is important because when you win you get to really influence policy. You’re back to fight another day. And that’s a big part of leadership – coming back to fight another day.”

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(c) 2004, The Kansas City Star.

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AP-NY-07-29-04 1321EDT