American Idols As Candidates: A Slideshow

There's an unprecedented intersection between politics and pop culture this election year: just yesterday we saw John McCain, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama on WWE, Cindy McCain co-host "The View," and President Bush make a guest appearance on "Deal or No Deal" (not to mention all those "Saturday Night Live" sketches).

Tonight, we'll see American Idol and the Pennsylvania Primary go head to head in a battle to see who can attract more viewers. In that spirit, we present Idols as Candidates, a slideshow comparing the American Idol contestants to their presidential candidate counterparts.

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American Idol photos courtesy AmericanIdol.com; Presidential candidate pictures courtesy AP

Comments

[kellygrrrl]

I like it better with the candidates as the Idol judges:

Simon Cowell - the mean bitter cruel McCain
Paula Abdul - the stammering lying Clinton
Randi Jackson - the laidback cool honest Obama

[audiodramatist]

Even though i don't have or watch television; therefore no "Idols", i really do appreciate this conceptual bit.
I'm thinking of tuning out of the rest of this campaign season as they only want to sling inconsequentials at each other, rather than discuss meaningful issues.

If you keep at this kind of distraction, i can keep abreast of the goings on without the...
Well, you know, the ugliness, the stupidness, the ¦and be entertained at the same time.
Thanks

[patch61]

superdegates i feel if the media and cnn as well as the republicans are afraid of sen.hillary clinton and not obama that does say something you must see the light of this win in penn for sen.hillary clinton she needs to be the next president of the united states of america....

[jacksjg]

Where's Kucinich and Richardson in all this mess?
And Ron Paul thought he was going to win, and had a chance if it weren't for the corporate media. And Gravel has every right to be angry, and I could here him over his shouting, so why can't you.

[LeoMarvin]

Whatever Jason Castro is doing, I don't think he's sticking around so his message will be heard.

[kellygrrrl]

I love it ... at least conceptually.

I'd have to say though, David Cook is more of an Obama-like candidate.

Obama/Cook 08

[jplass]

What about Dennis Kucinich? Sad to see him already entirely erased from the collective American memory.

Good job HuffPo on participating in the media's rewriting of this election

[houseofglass]

I like your pairings. Go Barack!! Go David!!

[AERO]

And Hillary is Sanjaya:

1. Staying in the competition longer than necessary (probably due to Republican crossover tomfoolery)
2. Her performances annoy the hell out of lots of people, yet inspire her devoted fans to tears
3. Sanjaya made bizarre changes in his hair each week. Hillary makes bizarre changes in her story, depending upon which group she's pandering to at the time.

[djohn78]

its this season, not last season

[DebofMD]

Excellent comparison.

[SharonB]

YOU... I like.

[KnockedUpsuperbadvirgin]

But David Cook is going to win, so please don't pair him with Hillary

[djohn78]

um, according to simon its a battle between david arch. and david cook, but most likely david archuleta will win with his teeny booper fan base (obama's young crowd)

[kellygrrrl]

except Archuleta is not ready
Obama is ready

Archuleta needs to break away from his controlling father and do this on his own

in that respect, he is more like Hillary. She can't seem to get out from under Bill's thumb

[MoreCowBellNowPlease]

If you check my posts, I have been saying all along that this campaign is like American Idol and it SHOULDN"T BE. It's not about a sudden shot to fame (Obama) and it's shouldn't be about popularity and likability. It should be about who is the best person for the job as the LEADER of the FREE WORLD!

[jsar70]

..and Karl Rove would be.....Randy Jackson. A fat blowhard with nothing to say............DAWG!