“Jack Bauer is the most apolitical character of all time. He’s not right. He’s not left. He’s just trying to get a simple job done, or a complicated one. One of the things I loved about the show was that people would project their politics, but as long as we don’t, we’re fine — and we don’t.” He appreciates that the audience will try to read politics into it one way or the other, “but I want to make it clear that our show is really neutral.”

He has met Cindy McCain, wife of presumed Republican presidential candidate John McCain, including once at Sunday’s race, and John McCain has been on the set of the show. And, former present Bill Clinton has said it is his favorite television show.

“That’s what I love about our show,” he said.

As much as Sutherland loves to do suspense, one genre remains missing from his recent resume.

Sutherland was asked Sunday if there is another western in his immediate future.

“You just broke my heart there,” he said. “Wouldn’t that be cool.” Sutherland, who spent a few years competing on the professional rodeo circuit and starred in 1988’s “Young Guns’’ and the sequel, would like nothing more than to do another one.

“You won’t find another actor that wants to do a western more badly than I do,” he said. “If you can convince a studio that people want to see them, but unfortunately, a couple of westerns that came out, and they were pretty big-budget things, were not successful, so it’s making them harder to (sell to a studio).” He added, “One day, yes, it will happen” and then added with a smile, “And I hope I’m in it.” And most of Sutherland’s fans would agree.