Finding the free world's leader on MySpace

Politics, MySpace, and reality television - three entities that are practically ubiquitous and yet widely panned - are joining forces to find a candidate for Commander in Chief. Mark Burnett, über-producer of Survivor, The Apprentice, Rock Star and others, is teaming with social networking site MySpace - a unit of News Corp. (NYSE: NWS) - to develop Independent, a program that will find an independent U.S. Presidential candidate.

The program is set to launch early next year, giving the potential candidates quite the slow start compared to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John McCain and others that have already kicked off their respective campaigns. The candidates will participate in interactive "town hall" meetings, allowing MySpace users and TV viewers the opportunity to rate the contestants' political strengths and weaknesses. The program is not yet attached to a television network.

Burnett hopes this new concept will engage America's youth in the political process. Through the pairing with MySpace, Burnett hopes to "bring to light the issues that are closest to those who now finally have a chance to be heard."

While the grand prize of candidacy comes with a cool $1 million, the contest's winner cannot pocket the cash, but must instead use it for campaign purposes or toward a political action committee.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.