So You Think You Can Govern?

By Keith Boykin, in politics
Friday, October 19 2007, 12:32PM

Three years ago this month, I finished taping the last episode of an unusual reality show. We didn’t have to eat grasshoppers or jump out of an airplane. Instead, we traveled through America trying to win votes in a simulated presidential election.

The TV series, called “American Candidate,” was broadcast on the Showtime cable network, and the cameras followed us as we moved across the country from New Hampshire to Los Angeles. During our brief 10-week campaign, we argued in debates, held press conferences, gave rally speeches, observed focus groups, lead strategy sessions, and developed television ads.

The show offered an entertaining, behind-the-scenes look at American campaigns. Of course it wasn’t real, but it could be. With public opinion polls indicating interest in politics low and Nielsen ratings indicating interest in reality shows high, why not make real life politics into a “real” reality show?

The 2007-08 campaign is already set to become the longest and most expensive in history, and it’s difficult for lesser known and lesser funded candidates to break from the pack in this environment. It’s also hard for voters to follow such a lengthy campaign featuring a dozen and a half contenders.

A campaign reality series would open up the process. It would help revive the public’s interest in politics by presenting the presidential race in a format that truly interests the voters. And it would help the candidates, each of whom would be guaranteed “face time” every week on national television.

Imagine watching the backstage body language between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama at one of their numerous debates this year. Or what if we could watch Mike Huckabee in his campaign office plotting his strategy to ambush one of the top-tier candidates like Rudy Giuliani, Mitt Romney or even Fred Thompson?

Putting on a political reality show might not be as difficult as it seems. A small television crew could accompany each of the candidates on the campaign trail and send back video to be edited into a weekly program. The episodes could even be taped a few weeks in advance of the airdates to protect the candidates from revealing too much too soon.

The show would have to get started right away and could continue until the spring of 2008, when most of the big primaries will have been decided. And since it would be a reality series instead of a scripted show, it wouldn’t take as much money to produce.

Some may fear that a campaign reality show might be demeaning. But can it be any more demeaning than the candidates flipping pork patties or admiring a life-size cow replica made of butter at the Iowa State Fair? At least with a reality series we’re more likely to watch it all on TV.

And a nationwide reality show featuring real candidates in search of a real prize with real power is much more likely to draw an audience than a cast of unknowns competing for fake votes on a pay cable network.

We don’t have to worry about the candidates playing to the cameras on a campaign reality program; they do that already. The leading candidates who don’t want to reveal too much of themselves will still be guarded, but every now and then the cameras might catch an unscripted “macaca” moment, captured on high-quality digital video.

During the Showtime series, when the producers wanted to get more drama from the candidates, they would drop us off in an open bar and roll the cameras. In a real political contest, you don’t even need the bar. I’ve worked on six political campaigns, including two presidential campaigns, and they’re just as cutthroat as “Survivor,” just as adventurous as “The Amazing Race,” and just as participatory as “American Idol.”

When we look behind the scenes, we might see some things we like and some things we don’t, but airing the dirty laundry could inspire the public to clean up the system. And the more information the voters have, the more informed the choices they will make.

Back in 1988, I was a young campaign staffer traveling with Michael Dukakis when he put on a combat helmet and rolled around in a tank in Michigan. Seeing the event in person, along with the candidate’s tour of the tank factory, made a lot more sense than watching it through the lens of George Bush’s campaign attack ads.

At the very least, the public deserves the same opportunity I’ve had to see the background story behind the stories that make the news.

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