A blue collar Detroit teamster wins America's top rated reality TV show, and becomes so idolized, he's recruited to run for President of the United States. With the hit show's network behind him, mass media combines with backroom politics as America doesn't mind how the leading presidential contender is also the least qualified candidate.

SYNOPSIS:

Joe Shmuger was a regular forklift driver in Detroit, until that is, his victory on television’s biggest reality game show, “Win, Place or Perish.” Airing Tuesday nights, the climactic finale draws the largest audience in television history, and the straight talking Joe is deified to historic proportions; followed by of course, the hurricane of hype. Endorsements. Movie deals. The best-seller, “Tuesdays with Joey.” Motivational speeches with Tony Robbins…as his student.

Meanwhile, in Washington, DC, the anxious, older and all white leadership of the Conservative Party of the Republic (CPR), trying desperately to crack the stranglehold of the two party system, strikes on a brainstorm: Convince Joe Shmuger to be their candidate for President.

Resistant at first, Joe comes on board, anxious to be recognized for his mental abilities rather than manual (despite only two semesters of junior college). And the campaign contributions start pouring in.

The GOP, and especially the Democrats, stooped in laughter, first embrace Joe’s candidacy -- until the first polls come out showing him a solid third, closing in. And the press love him. When he doesn’t know an answer to a question, he actually ADMITS IT! Breathtaking.

For a running mate, Joe wants his high school government teacher, who is Black. However the CPR, planning to later impose their real, radically conservative agenda, convince Joe to take on Willis Trompeter, a far right winger. If Joe becomes inflexible, they would just force him out, using any of the time-tested Beltway scandal formulas. As party leader Cadwallader Frost explains, “Allegations don’t have to be true. They just have to be loud.”

When the two major parties far outspend Joe’s campaign, the network behind “Win, Place or Perish,” the Television Network of America (TnA), steps in to provide a historic sponsorship of millions of dollars in airtime. Also leveraging their advertiser clients, they add enormous cross-promotion that puts the Shmuger campaign on everything from cereal boxes to video games, birthing the first synergized Presidential contender.

Amid the hysteria, Joe grows insecure as the public agrees with him even when he is wrong. Scared and depressed, his campaign culminates in a heated face-off in the one state all polls say will decide the election – Rhode Island. The three candidates criss-cross the tiny state, eventually crossing paths, literally, colliding on a Providence street corner. When Joe is baited by zealots of the opposition, his insecurity boils over, erupting into an outrageous brawl that becomes pandemonium. Filled with self-doubt, Joe quits the race. The CPR convinces him to continue however, assisted by the stunning post-fight headlines labeling him, amazingly enough, the FRONT RUNNER. Only in America.

Joe’s renewed confidence is quickly tested when he discovers the CPR’s secret plan to later dump him for Willis Trompeter. While more intent on winning, he also realizes that in the ruthless game of politics he is in far over his head. The ultimate alternative candidate tries desperately to avoid politics as usual while staring down an apparent deal with the devil.

It is Election Eve as Joe comes to terms with himself, and his strange role in this often wacky democracy...as the ballots come pouring in.

"JOE SCHMO FOR PRESIDENT"