Good evening, and thank you for joining us. From Game Show Newsnet World News Headquarters, I'm Chico Alexander here with the finale of one of the most heated races in all of reality game shows. For the final two, Malia and Park, the race that began with a not-so-subtle announcement and climaxed into a bitter war between fractioning bodies is heading into the homestretch.

First, we take you live to Stanley where Park Gillespie and CM/running mate James Dockery are arriving to a high party atmosphere consisting of students, teachers, family, and churchgoers, all proud of their native son. Park, do you believe that you have come through with the victory?

Park: "We did our best, and we can rest with that."

Thanks, Park. Over to your running mate, campaign manager/running mate. James, obviously you've been doing something right in order to get your man to this point. Any thought on what America might be thinking?

James: "We're ready for America to speak. I think and Park thinks that America will tend to agree with our views rather than Malia and Keith's views."

Thank you, James. From the Gillespie/Dockery party we go now to Boston where we see the election night party of Malia Lazu and running mate Keith Boykin. Once again, we have a greeting of very close family and friends. This is where the campaign officially started. If we can get a word in with Rashad, Malia's CM. Rashad, a very quaint atmosphere. Your feelings, sir?

Rashad: "We're here because this is where so many people have supported us. This is an amazing feeling all around!"

Thank you, Rashad. Now, I spoke with one of the supporters, and they think that Malia will win because she represents the new America, a voice for those who were underestimated, disrespected, and "outright dissed." Now I'm getting words in with Malia and Keith. Guys, a thousand emotions going through your heads right now. Any one stand out?

Keith: "I'm so nervous? It's hard to figure out what's going to happen!"

And you, Malia?

Malia: "I'm really nervous. I have butterflies, but I wouldn't want it to be any other way with the closest of people."

Thanks. And now we have Malia's mother, Ellen Lubrano. She said that she was so proud of Malia no matter what happens.

Before we get to the results of the vote, a recap. In leg 1, there were ten different coming out parties for ten people who believed that they all had what it took to become President of the United States. After the announcements, of which Park's was the largest, it came down to his vote as to whether conservative candidate Jim Strock and progressive Chrissy Gephardt would continue on. A tip of the hat to an abortion issue sent Chrissy packing early on. At the beginning of leg 2, the remaining progressives - Keith, Lisa Witter, Malia, and Bruce Friedrich - struck an alliance accord which together sent Bob Vanech, Jim, Richard Mack, and Joyce Riley off the ballot, even as their own ranks were beginning to crumble under the nature of best-man-wins. In the face of focus group after focus group, each candidate was honed to perfection. Not the case for Bruce, as his fundamental beliefs and willingness to change his message, keep him out of the running.

From then, the problem shifted to, as AC figurehead Frank Luntz put it, a split-liberal vote. This results in the dismissals of Bruce and Keith. The final three had though that they head the end of those people that some wrote off and some plotted to get rid of. Not so, as it was time to choose a running mate. After a town-hall elimination debate, America washed its hands, once and for all, of Lisa and Chrissy, leaving the final two to debate for your votes, which brings us to tonight with two polar opposites - a multi-ethnic liberal youth with a tongue ring and a conservative God-fearing WASP - bound by their intense drive toward victory.

Park believes it's been a long, difficult, fun road. How is he changed? "Having a chance to speak to people has helped me to understand what the country is. You need to be as open-minded as you possibly can be. It's helped me to learn my own lessons better. I want to see that city-on-a-hill that Reagan talked about, and I want to see that dream that King talked about."

Malia talks about removing layers of spin and pollsters and returning politics to its cure of people. Over the whole tongue-ring/hair dispute, there has been one lesson learned. "You have to realize that at the end of the day, you're doing something larger than this. I see an America that respects and values its family. At one time a family can only be two white people, and thank God that's changed." She also talks of fighting injustice with action instead of rhetoric.

She isn't the only one who thought so. Enter the also-rans. Those who entered, but, for one reason or another, weren't called back to make the world safe for reality TV. Whatever they did, be it singing, poetry, yelling, or... other non-partisan, non-political tactics (shoes, dogs, and hemp come to mind)... they had a message that they wanted to be heard, from the generalized screwing-over of the American people to family values to the coverup of the X-files. And they say Americans don't care... A few examples:

- I know enough about TV production to know that once a videotape falls into someone's hands, documentary producers, TV networks, et cetera, they have a strong First Amendment argument that says that they can do a heck of a lot with it under the doctrine of fair use. In other words, once they send you a video, it could be used for 15 seconds in some cyber channel show someday called "American Candidate 2004: the Wannabes You've Never Seen."

- Something I wanted to show you today was my shoe collection. I'm really proud of it. And I was thinking about it in terms of America. I think what we need to do is clean out our closet, keep what's working, and get rid of what's not working.

- I love this dog. She's cute. She's my soul mate, actually. She lets me stroke her, but look what happens. Look what happens. What happens when I put on the glove, huh? What happens when I put on the glove? It's the nasty hand. That's it. Well, you know what? Nicky, this dumb animal, is most Americans. They don't know when they're getting stroked, when they're told they're on the winning team all the time, it's great. They don't see that fist inside the glove that's really screwing them. And you know which way it's screwing them, too. 

- All of elected officials should receive the absolute worst health coverage available. Then they would make sure that the worst wasn't so bad.

- As a short, Jewish lesbian who looks like Bart Simpson, I am the under-represented.

- I want to start a third party, the evolutionary party. Our symbol will be the monkey.

- Ladies and gentlemen, it is in the best interests of the United States of America and the world to re-legalize marijuana, the beneficial, versatile, historically legal marijuana hemp plant. Thank you, and good day.

- I want to shake up these rich, white men. Religion taken out of politics and men taken out of women's right to choose.

- I'm fed up, America, that the fat cat special interest groups have had their say long enough. Democrats skin you up one way, and Republicans skin you down the other way, and there's nothing left in the middle when they're done. Will you let me help you, friends? Will you let me?

- Right now, this country is upside down. This country is run by politicians who would wrap themselves in the flag for their own self-serving reasons than protect the rights of every citizen in this country.

Well, after all that filler, the bell has finally tolled. One candidate will go down in a blaze of glory. The other will drink from the chalice of triumph. This road was stained with the blood of the fallen, the sweat of the living, and the tears of the loved. And now, the time is finally upon us. The votes have been counted and the result is final. After a nationwide phone-in vote, the winner... of American Candidate 2004 is....

PARK GILLESPIE. And the town of Stanley, NC is going crazy in celebration. The mood turns somber in Boston, as a town comforts its fallen soldier. Meanwhile, Malia, ever graceful in defeat and accepting that this is only the beginning, gets on her phone to congratulate the victor. And now we will hear the inaugural address of that victor, in its entirety, unabridged in any form. Ladies and gentlemen, your American Candidate... Park Gillespie.

Park: "Thank you. Thank you very much. 230 years ago, our country was founded by God-fearing, God-honoring people who envisioned a land where life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to be more than just concepts inked onto parchment. In the decades since then, other men and women of passion and principle have spent their energy, their ideas, their sweat, and yes, sometimes their blood to help ensure that the united states remains the freest, finest nation on earth. But the battle is far from over, my friends.

"We are a country at war, a country in which far too many people worry far too often about how to make ends meet. A country where the family, the building block of every civilized society since the dawn of time is in danger of being radically redefined. We are a nation at a crossroads, and if we do not live up to the principles at our court, the principles hard-wired into us by our Creator, we are in danger of paying a price we never thought we'd have to pay. I say that tonight knowing some of you disagree with me about what the right path is. I have enjoyed debating the direction we have to take with you, but let's commit to conduct a debate with kindness in our hearts while heeding the better angels of our nature. This is important not only in politics, but in race relations, as well. We need to work with each other, because when we do, we discover that far more unites us than divides us."

(crowd applause)

"I also know there are those of you who share the values I've spent the last ten weeks talking about, from New Hampshire to Washington and all points in between. I know we share these values because you've humbled me with your help in getting me here. Frank Luntz, Ed Rollins, Sue Myra, Keith Larson and Interactive Political Media, I thank you and so many others from the bottom of my heart for your support.

"Ladies and gentlemen, as we meet here tonight, somewhere in the world, there are people plotting to kill us. They are, as the President has said, evil men. Government must be prepared to protect us from these men today. They must plan to defend us against them tomorrow, and that's why I support legislation to give law enforcement the tools to keep terrorist attacks on U.S. soil in the history books and out of the newspapers."

(crowd applause)

"National security, you see, must be addressed over generations with the same kind of moral clarity we muster to take on slavery, Nazism and communism. Great Britain learned that truth all too well at the outset of world war II, and that nation only survived because the appeaser Chamberlain was replaced by the warrior Churchill. Let's learn from our ally's mistake and not repeat it.

"Let's talk for a minute about another kind of security, economic security. Government must help American families on this front, as well, and please understand when I say help, I mean a hand up, not a hand out. Government is not the solution. Its job is to provide the tools, and then to get out of the way so that we can do the hammering and the sawing and the painting necessary to put our financial house in order. A good place to start is to create a business friendly environment. We are doubly and triply taxing items, and as a result, companies are outsourcing jobs overseas. 70% of all jobs in the united states are created by small businesses. And those businesses must be on shackles so that they and their employees can prosper."

(crowd applause)

"Therefore, an overhaul of the tax system for individuals is in order, too. Were it not for the Bush administration tax cuts, everyday Americans like me, a public school teacher whose $2,200 of take home pay gets tugged on six ways would have little hope of achieving the American dream. That's why it is imperative that the provisions of that tax relief plan, like abolishing the marriage penalty, be made permanent. And the innovative ideas like a national sales tax and a flat tax must also be explored.

"Then there is security of the family. This is an especially important issue for me not only because Tammy and I have four daughters, but also because as a middle school teacher for the past 16 years, I have had the honor of helping shape the lives of more than 1,500 young men and women, and I'm here to tell you that the breakdown of the family, in addition to being the number one problem facing our educational system is tearing them apart. It's not, of course, government's responsibility to raise our children. That's our job. But marriage is a public, private partnership. It is a contract between the government and each couple to do what the state cannot, to raise and prepare the next generation to fight the battles of freedom. On that score, ladies and gentlemen, government has a lot of work to do.

"In the last 30 years, from the legalization of abortion to the push to redefine marriage, government has too often worked against families. The chief offender, the courts.

"Jefferson warned of an oligarchy, or the rule of a few. He taught us that without the consent of the governed - those who govern have no moral or legal authority, and that's just what we're on the verge of creating in this country today. Unelected, unaccountable judges are making laws the people would never pass. For example, whenever voters have had a chance to speak on same-sex marriage, by super majorities, in Alaska, Nevada, Hawaii and Louisiana, Missouri, and even California, they have affirmed that institution as the union of one man and one woman. That's the way it's supposed to be in a government of the people, by the people and for the people. No matter what you believe on this issue, the people must be allowed to speak.

"Legalizing same-sex marriage, which Massachusetts did this year, and which every state in the union could be forced to do if the judicial tyrants have their way, could strike a crippling blow to families. Study after study has found that boys and girls not raised by both biological parents are much more likely to suffer abuse, perform poorly in school, abuse drugs and alcohol, and wind up in trouble with the law.

"Did our founders fight and die to wrest their liberty from a tyrannical king only to hand it back to a group of black robed judges? Should the desires of adults ever trump what's best for kids? The needs of our most vulnerable must come first.

"I recognize again that there are people who would answer these questions differently. To you, I say this is who I am. When I got involved in this campaign I promised not to compromise what I know to be true in order to win a few votes. Politics ought to be about more than that. It ought to be about public service, not public relations. Anything less is a violation of the principles on which our nation was founded. I believe in those principles. I believe they are what makes America great. The strong, moral leadership, and the spirit of cooperation, we can prevail in the battle to preserve these principles, to provide for the national security, the economic security, and the family security of all of us blessed enough to call ourselves American citizens.

"I tell you tonight, my friends, I am blessed to call myself an American citizen. I am blessed to call myself your American Candidate, and more than anything, I am blessed to call myself a child in this cycle, of my precious Lord, Jesus Christ, who is my Saviour and God.

(crowd applause)

"I stand tonight before you as one who has been transformed by His power. May He bless you, may He continue to bless the United States of America. Thank you.

(crowd applause)

"Remember, America is an ideal. It's an idea, and if we don't live up to that, it will die. It's the most unique place that's ever been created on this planet. I want to make sure that we live up to those ideas."

Congratulations to Park Gillespie, who will take home $200,000 for his effort. The great words of Voltaire read, "I may disagree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." This was only a practice run. In a few weeks' time, you will get your chance to exercise one of the greatest gifts ever bestowed upon mankind, the right to choose. On November 2, get out and exercise your right as an American citizen. As Tim Connolly said, "You can't complain if you don't vote!" Remember, every voice matters... and the nation will be listening.

Thank you for reading. Thank you for watching. From GSNN World News Headquarters, I'm Chico Alexander for "American Candidate" signing out. Good night.