American Candidate

Premise
Paralleling the 2004 United States presidential election, the show featured 11 contestants running as "candidates" in a mock campaign. Initially, the public could announce their "candidacy" on the show's website and garner support. Eventually, eleven contestants were chosen to appear on the show itself.

Each week, the contestants would compete in a politically themed challenge, coached by various political experts. The two contestants who fared the poorest each week would debate while one of them would be eliminated (voting the remaining contestants). For the final two episodes, the viewers would vote and eventually chose the final winner.

List of Challenges
Throughout the series, the contestants traveled in a bus all over the United States while participating in various challenges, each modeled on real activities candidates for public office might expect to undergo:

Week 1: Hometown support. Week 2: Deliver a speech on the War on Terror to residents of New Hampshire. Week 3: Press conference on jobs and the economy in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Week 4: Charlottesville, Virginia. Week 5: Focus groups in New York City. Week 6: Political ads in Washington D.C. Week 7: Philadelphia. Week 8-9: Los Angeles. Week 10: Finale.