When Howard Kurtz turned his eye recently to American Candidate, he quoted exec producer RJ Cutler as saying: "The person who wins this show is going to emerge as a real potential leader in this country." And hey, Cutler should know, having produced both the brilliant The War Room on the 1992 presidential election, and The Perfect Candidate, about Olly North's senate bid in '94.

I'm honestly not sure whether that says more about television itself or the quality of our political candidates.