-By Mike Shields, Mediaweek

NEW YORK Microsoft's MSN today premieres Republicrats, a new 25-episode comedy series centered around a fictional presidential candidate who places much of his campaign's strategy in the hands of Web viewers.

The short-form show, which will unfold over the last few months of the 2008 presidential campaign, is produced by Generate, the Santa Monica, Calif.-based firm launched by former WB CEO Jordan Levin. Series creator Sean Masterson stars as a voter who is disenchanted with both political parties and decides to run for office as a "Republicrat," i.e., a candidate who stands for nothing in particular.

"His idea is to create a do-it-yourself party," said Levin, Generate's CEO. "His thinking is 'Let America decide. I have no opinion on anything. How can it go wrong?'"

Thus, the series, which Levin said began shooting roughly three weeks ago, will aim to be highly topical -- as episodes will reflect current goings on in the campaigns as much as possible -- and also highly interactive.

"It's soft-scripted," explained Levin. "We tried to shoot a loose set of episodes that are self-contained." However, the plan is to invite users to decide who should join Masterson's staff -- that includes his vice presidential pick -- and what particular policies he should support.

The format of the show will vary, ranging from mock campaign speeches to man-on-the-street interviews. Plus, Republicrats will strive to satirize both presumptive Democratic candidate Barack Obama and presumptive Republican candidate John McCain.

"We're going to try to respond to real candidate gaffes as soon as we can," said Omer Khan, director of MSN Video.

To start, Republicrats will be distributed exclusively on MSN Video, but the plan is to eventually expand distribution to mobile platforms or Facebook.

Khan said he expects to use MSN's home page to promote the series, while also featuring links to the show alongside news stories about the campaign. "We think there are going to be lots of ways to cross-promote," he said.

At launch, MSN and Generate have yet to land any advertisers (Generate, which has previously worked with BET and Comedy Central on various projects financed the show independently). However, Levin offered that several major brands have expressed serious interest and that a sponsor is likely to come on board "within the first couple of weeks."

READ ADFREAK'S TAKE ON 'REPUBLICRATS'