Since we as a nation obviously can’t get enough of To Catch a Predator (it runs so frequently it’s bound to become its own network any day now), and the news media just can’t get enough of reporting on a presidential election that’s still 18 freakin’ months away (um, yeah, we’re kinda guilty of that, too), why not apply the concept of Predator to the political arena? Ashton Kutcher’s not really doing anything, so he’d probably be down for a show that targets politicians in a publicly humiliating, and possibly campaign destroying, way.

Sure, the news media already follow these candidates wherever they go, fighting over every juicy crumb of gossip and scandal looking for the next Monica Lewinsky, but no one’s taking the initiative in creating that scandal. That’s where Kutcher’s expertise comes in — setting up situations that can’t be escaped except through embarrassment and ridicule.

And unlike Predator, not all the set-ups have to be as predictable and illegal as trying to have sex with children (although were that to happen it would probably help us make a more educated decision come November ’08). Some can merely be morally repugnant. A few ideas…

• An actor masquerading as a Yemeni oil baron asks to set up a private one-on-one meeting with a candidate to discuss making a “sizable donation” to the campaign. Once the meeting begins, the oil baron makes it very clear that in exchange for $20 million, donated from hundreds of independent untraceable sources, he needs to be able to tell his “associates” that the candidate promises to remove all U.S. troops from Iraq by 2009. Oh, wait until you see the look on that candidate’s face when he’s told there are cameras taping the whole thing!
• As a candidate who might have had a couple of adult beverages is driving away from a fundraising dinner, a hired stunt man hurls himself against the hood of the candidate’s car. Will he pretend nothing happened? Order his driver to step on it? Get out and actually help the poor man (who would then admit to sleeping with the candidate’s wife to make sure there’s no happy ending)?
• As a candidate is going through airport security to fly to a campaign stop in the Midwest, an actor pretending to be a TSA agent asks him to step out of line for a personal inspection. Naturally, the wand has been set to go off repeatedly, and the guard has to ask the candidate to strip down, getting more and more physically invasive with his use of the wand. If the candidate isn’t making for good TV by getting naturally upset, a supervisor will step in, pick up an article of the candidate’s clothing, and remove a small bag of white powder he’s planted inside.

What compromising scenarios would you like to see presidential candidates forced into on national TV? Let us know!