If anyone should be naturally equipped to make a great showing on a talk show, it’s a career politician several months into a national campaign. They’re rehearsed and experienced, with a ton of anecdotes at their fingertips, plus ample prepping by a squad of professionals behind the scenes. We expect them to be relaxed, witty, informed and on their game

Senator Hillary Clinton fulfilled all expectations when she swept onto The Tonight Show in her customary pantsuit, topped in bright red to up the energy quotient. She pre-empted any questions on her recent “misspeaking” about her experiences in a Bosnian landing zone and confessed, “Obviously, I had a lapse.”

When Hillary and Jay went after the serious subjects, she delivered her opinions with a humorous slant, proclaiming, “It’s the economy, stupid – and unfortunately it’s a stupid economy.” When Leno brought up Chelsea, noting, “She said you would make a better president than her dad,” Hillary had a perfect comeback, “Oh, she’s such a smart young woman.”

Her natural gesturing kept the visual energy high and she made an excellent connection with her host. Her body language was solid, as she leaned in toward Leno and patted his desk to make her points. But she barely misses a 5 Whisper rating because she failed to maintain eye contact consistently. This appearance was marred by an annoying habit of looking at the floor for long stretches, making it impossible for the camera to find her and keeping the viewer from making a connection. If she could direct some of that eye line to the crowd, she would have aced our scoreboard.

Ryan Phillippe’s appearance on Jay Leno left something to be desired…and not on Phillippe’s part.

He did his best to roll with Leno’s endless jokes about the fact that Phillippe’s first job was as the first openly gay teenager on a daytime soap opera, (One Life to Live). After Jay asked him to look into the camera and give us his “gayest look,” (for which Leno has since apologized after mounting pressure from the gay and lesbian communities) Phillippe not only declined, but jokingly threatened to walk off the show, even going to far as to stand up, take a few steps and say goodbye to the crowd. When the unrelenting Leno implied he had plenty more fodder with which to embarrass Phillippe, including a naked Armani jeans commercial he’d done many years ago, Phillippe threatened, more seriously this time, to walk. Then, when Jay informed him he had the commercial ready to show, Phillippe literally put his head in his hands, saying “I’m outta here.”

While Phillippe was entertaining in an uncomfortable way, his nervous habits of rarely making eye contact with the host and constantly rubbing his hands on his jeans were distracting and made for a less-than-ideal interview, even when Jay kept baiting him.

Luckily, he was able to talk quite a lot about his new film “Stop-Loss” and how it is really told from the soldier’s point of view. He admitted that during the Gulf war period, he and a buddy went to enlist. The buddy did, and he just took the free T-shirt and went to New York to pursue acting.

He did discuss his kids, his distaste for Googling because anonymous people can say hateful things, and his love of all things Frank Sinatra (whom Jay opened for years ago). Toward the end of the interview, Leno, one more time, brought up the gay teenage thing and Phillippe basically ignored him saying “Anyway…” They laughed, but like a dentist appointment, we’re guessing Phillippe was glad this interview was over.