Television's most popular reality show — the 2008 presidential election — won no awards but was still a major supporting player at yesterday's Emmy ceremony.

It was fodder for jokes, some occasional grandstanding and a turn-back-the-clocks performance by Tommy Smothers, whose groundbreaking variety show 40 years ago was canceled for being too political.

The contest between John McCain and Barack Obama was never far from anyone's mind, since it's getting ratings most entertainment shows can only be envious of. Convention speeches by McCain, Obama and Sarah Palin each had bigger audiences than the finale of last year's most popular series, "American Idol."

Two HBO series honored as best in their class yesterday, the TV movie "Recount" and miniseries "John Adams," both concerned past elections in American history.

"The election between Jefferson and Adams was filled with innuendo, lies, a bitter partisan press and disinformation," said Tom Hanks, a "John Adams" producer. "How great we've come so far since then."

A writer on the miniseries, Kirk Ellis, was abruptly cut off by ABC when he began to use his acceptance speech to draw an unflattering comparison between political dialogue in the nation's formative years and today.

Smothers received a commemorative writing achievement for his work on the cutting-edge "The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour" in the late '60s — and turned serious.

"It's hard for me to stay silent when I keep hearing that peace is only attainable through war. And there's nothing more scary than watching ignorance in action," he said, dedicating his award to "all people who feel compelled to speak out, and are not afraid to speak to power, and won't shut up and refuse to be silenced."

Martin Sheen, who played a president on "The West Wing," lauded television for giving America a front-row seat to real presidential campaigns. Then he urged viewers to vote for "the candidate of your choice, at least once."

Stewart and Colbert presented an award while Colbert ate from a bag of prunes, which he used as a metaphor for the race.

"America needs prunes. It may not be a young, sexy plum. Granted, it's shriveled and at times hard to swallow. But this dried-up old prune has the experience we need," Colbert said.

And it was a Howie Mandel political joke that drew a knowing laugh — really, the only laugh — in a brutal opening segment. Intentional or not, the segment left viewers wishing writers had helped them out, and was mocked on the air within an hour by Emmy winners Jeremy Piven and Jean Smart.

"We are on Sarah Palin's bridge to nowhere," Mandel told the Nokia Theatre audience.