Selleck Talks Politics

Let's get one thing straight: If you see Tom Selleck's name on a ticket, it'll be for a movie and not a campaign.

The actor may play a presidential hopeful in TNT's upcoming Running Mates and he may not hide the kind of views that got him ambushed by Rosie O'Donnell, but that's where his political involvement ends.

"I'm interested in politics. I find it fascinating and this subject comes up every so often, which is flattering," the actor said at the Television Critics Association press tour in Pasadena, CA, when asked if he'd ever want to run for office. "But my answer [is] always, I'm already a public figure. I know what that's like. Why would I want to turn it up a couple of notches? That's what we do to our candidates."

What's surprising is that Selleck, who co-stars with Faye Dunaway, Nancy Travis, Laura Linney and Teri Hatcher and plays a Democratic candidate in the cable movie, takes issue with those who portray him as a knee-jerk Republican. Yes, he sparred with O'Donnell over his pro-NRA stance and membership. Yes, he's a friend of Ronald and Nancy Reagan, but the actor says he's not even a member of the Republican Party.

"I'm a registered Independent. I've been one for 10 years," Selleck told a reporter who insisted he's a Republican. "You're going to argue with me about what I am. I did probably ? although I never say how I vote ? I probably voted for Ronald Reagan in the '80s, if that helps your question. For the last 10 years I've been an Independent and I've probably given as much money to Democrats [as] Republicans."

Such straight talk counts with the actor ? and it showed when he was asked what he's looking for in a candidate. "The answers I'd like to hear from a political candidate in today's world would be maybe two or three," he said. "One is, 'I don't know.' Another one is, 'That's none of your business.' "