I FINALLY HAVE the solution to electing a good president. I call it No President Left Behind—in honor of the current President's questionably successful education initiative.

Before I lay it out, I can't take all the credit.

First, John Dickerson of Slate Magazine had earlier suggested a similar game show format. Second, Republican Presidential Candidate Ron Paul deserves some credit after challenging his GOP opponent Rudy Giuliani to "read a book."

Third, two TV stations deserve some credit. KVBC in Las Vegas and KCRA in Sacramento both require reporters, anchors, and producers to take a written test before they're hired. One of the news directors told me they were shocked to see how good someone was on camera and how little knowledge they had of national and world events. My thought: if we're grilling reporters who have no say over policy, then why not accurately grill our presidential hopefuls.

And lastly, all my friends deserve credit, too. They say they're tired of having an intellectually inadequate president.

OK, folks, this should solve the problem quickly—without having to endure months of 30-second distortion ads. So here goes.

No President Left Behind is a day-long event that will be televised by any network that deems it important. (Comedy Central might be the only one.)

The first phase is a one-hour written exam for each candidate. There will be multiple choice questions like: "al Qaeda is a Shiite or Sunni terrorist group?"; "Albania is on what continent?" and "What's the difference between the NAACP and the NCAA?"

Two essay questions will be posed. Here are some likely topics:

Explain how you would balance the federal budget without borrowing from Social Security while making both Social Security and Medicare solvent in the year 2030.

Lay out your plan to make America energy independent by 2015 so that American usage of foreign oil drops by more than 80%. Use sources.

Explain why free market forces have not created a universal health care system in the United States. Refer to at least two economic theories.

Take an argument by your opponent—that you opposed—and show how you can make it work so that a majority of Americans will benefit.

Is it important or not to have the United States fully wired so the Information Age can reach all Americans? Explain yourself.

These exams will be graded during the second phase by the non-profit organization FactCheck.Org (www.factcheck.org). The results will be revealed in Stage Three.

The second phase will be a difficult question and answer session with a moderator and two questioners. It will be similar to a person making their oral presentation for a doctorate. Each candidate will be grilled for a half-hour alone to defend their policies and beliefs.

Phase three will reveal the grades from the phase one written test. FactCheck.Org will explain the correct answers, the inaccuracies, and the gray areas. The candidates will be questioned about their answers—the right one and the wrong ones—and to further explain their essay answers.

Phase four will allow the candidates to advance to a two-hour structured debate where the moderator and panel will ask questions and then the candidates will be able to ask each other questions.

Phase five will be a break for the candidates and another session of FactCheck.Org announcing the inaccuracies in the candidates' response.

Phase six will be a question and answer session with the candidates—based on questions from the American public through the Internet.

Phase seven is another round with FacCheck.Org showing the candidate's answers using flawed facts. During this time, the votes will be tallied. The moderator and panel will be 25%, FactCheck.Org will be another 25%; and the audience will vote online, making up the remaining 50%. This will ensure no one campaign has hired a bunch of staccato-fingered workers.

Phase eight allows the two top candidates to make a 20-minute speech without a TelePrompTer. Sure, he or she will be pooped after a long day of testing. But remember, being President is a tough job that requires long hours and someone who has an agile mind.

The public votes again and the winners are announced two days later.

Will this ever happen? Hell, no. No candidate—or his handlers—would allow this mental marathon.

But if it did happen, some good things would happen. Weak candidates would drop out and save their campaign donors a lot of money. Only the person of strong mind and body would run. Hey, if McCain excels in this, then who cares if he's 70. Plus, the candidates who stay in the race will concentrate on issues and studying rather than raising money.

More importantly, this format would gather the interest of the American people. They would think this is the best reality show ever. Plus, you could watch it with your kids who will be learning at the same time.

Should this be the final arbiter of how you vote? No. There are other elements to deciding a President besides who is tough and smart. We also care about that person's ethics and demeanor; sometimes those qualities are only seen on the campaign trail. Unfortunately with our current president, his folksy charm is what we saw too much.

If any reality show producer creates this show, remember I told you here first.