The paparazzi often swarm around Australia's Prime Minister John Howard when he goes out for his morning constitutionals. PM Tony Blair must have been flattered to death when heartthrob Hugh Grant played a not-too-fictionalized version of him in "Love Actually." Dame Helen Mirren won an Oscar as QEII. Here in California, we have a Governor who was Mr. Freeze and The Terminator. As for the President of the United States, he's been played on screen by stars ranging from Harrison Ford to Michael Douglas to Kevin Kline to Geena Davis. No wonder that the most fondly remembered Prez of the 20th Century is the one who happened to be a movie star (Ronald Reagan)...even if one of those movies was "Bedtime for Bonzo."

The audition process has begun in earnest here in America and it's resembling a very long episode of "Presidential Idol," with all the pundits from the cable news channels acting as judges. A few candidates have already been eliminated (Bye Bye, Brownback) and some seem to be there only for comic relief (the elfin Dennis Kucinich). Republican Mormon Mitt Romney always appears to have just stepped out of the Hair & Makeup Room...even my dad enthuses, "He sure LOOKS like a President!" (I'm certain no one ever said that about Abraham Lincoln) and former NYC Mayor Rudy Guiliani has been coming up with one-liners that can assure Hollywood we can certainly survive a strike by the Writers Guild. And every time I see Fred Thompson, I have to check the TV Guide to make sure I haven't tuned in to a repeat episode of "Law and Order."

Across the aisle on the Democratic Party side, Hollywood gets involved. But for all their endorsements and donations, celebrities haven't been able to help the liberals reclaim the White House in the last two elections. Even Brangelina, with their vast beauty and superpowers, don't count for much when John Q. Public is casting his ballot. Now that Al Gore has an Academy Award and an Emmy, will it be different in 2008? Most people sure hope so.

I worked on a weekend bash for Senator John Edwards which was held at the swanky home of A-list director Brett Ratner. Among the co-hosts were Ben Stiller, Jean Smart, James Denton, Norman Lear, Seth Green, Madeleine Stowe and Gary Cole. I'm behind Edwards for many reasons...the least of which is that he doesn't NEED the job! A self-made multimillionaire with matinee idol looks and a rich family life, he embodies the true spirit of public service. I get the sense that he's not seeking the position for any kind of ego or power trip, but for the positive changes it will enable him to make for America, its allies and the world.

In a media-obsessed society, where we want to know every detail of a politician's personal life, we are closely scrutinizing the health and fitness of the new crop of players like they are rookies on a new pro sports team. Thomas Jefferson got away with having a love child by his slave-mistress Sally Hemmings, but Bill Clinton couldn't even have a cigar in the Oval Office. Citizens had no idea Franklin Delano Roosevelt was confined to wheelchair, but today we know the polyp count in George W. Bush's colon. Every one of Dick Cheney's heart murmurs spawns headlines and I've lost count at the number of tweaks he's had to his pacemaker...I think he has more hardware inside him than the Bionic Woman.

I saw Barack Obama at my gym at 7am Saturday, a few hours before he gave a speech at the "Stand by Me" high school and joined Alfre Woodard and Julia Louis Dreyfuss for a fundraiser at studio exec Ron Meyers' mansion. The Obama Workout seems to consist of a 5 minute walk on the treadmill in your Nike T-shirt and sweat pants (no actual sweat, mind you) followed by a half hour wandering from machine to machine (Don't worry, Barack, I hate pull-ups, too) but a lot of Deltoid Presses--five sets, to be precise. I guess he's preparing to carry the weight of the world on those shoulders! He's tall, lean and handsome and looks more than a little like a young Denzel Washington. I was mostly interested in what was on his i-Pod because he never stopped bopping his head. I thought the three secret service men he had positioned in the weight room corridor were a little conspicuous, though. They looked like the "Men in Black." Couldn't he have allowed them to put on gym-clothes and guard him from the StairMasters, at least? Well...at least it's good to know he's a candidate who believes in keeping fit. Maybe with all the dough Oprah Winfrey is throwing around to publicize his campaign, she should help him by getting him a good trainer to make better use of his precious time.

My guy Edwards is a runner...even gracing the cover of RUNNER's WORLD Magazine. In fair disclosure, so has President Bush...then again so has Will Ferrell. But I think Will would rather run FROM the Presidency than FOR it! Oddly enough, I haven't heard so much as a whisper about the health status or regimen of the Democratic front runner, Hillary Clinton (who was here in Tinseltown this weekend for a fundraiser at Rob Reiner's house). Don't we the people deserve to know the minutiae of her latest mammogram or throat swab? The Magazine editors certainly spend enough column space analyzing her hair-do's and wardrobe choices.

What a circus! You know who I'm behind, so who would YOU cast as the next President? And sorry: George Clooney swears he isn't going to run.