By KIKI RYAN

The just-ended “Real World” season was based in D.C., but that didn’t mean cast members got particularly politically energized. One worked at the Human Rights Campaign and visited his congressman. Another had a political cartoon published in the Washington Times.

Putting them to shame is former “Real World: Boston” cast member Sean Duffy, who is running for U.S. Congress in Ashland County, Wisconsin, where he’s trying to oust Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.). He follows in the footsteps of Kevin Powell, from 1992’s New York season, as the second “Real World”-er to make a run for the House. (Powell, who has twice lost elections, plans to run again in 2010.)

Duffy, the area’s district attorney, decided to make a play for the seat following Obey’s “shepherding” of the stimulus package through the House.

“I just knew [following the passage of the stimulus package] that people were unhappy. And I knew if I didn’t step in, no one would,” the Wisconsin native tells POLITICO. “He’s just never here, we never see him.”

The Republican candidate, who has a background in lumberjack sports like log rolling, credits the “Real World” with educating him about how to navigate a world where your every move can be captured by something as simple as a camera phone-and broadcast for all to see.

“It started with [George Allen's] ‘macaca’ moment, but D.C. now lives in reality TV these days, with everyone looking for a YouTube moment to catch people off-script in a way the electorate doesn’t approve of,” he said.

He also credits the show hooking him up with his wife, Rachel Campos — she’s a former “Real World”-er from the San Francisco season. (They met on “Road Rules: All Stars.”)

Duffy doesn’t think that having been on the “Real World” will hurt his chances of winning, even though he did at least a few “foolish things” on camera.

“The things I said and did on the show will be brought up against me, no doubt, but people aren’t concerned about that,” said the father of five. (He’s got another one on the way, too!)

He plans to focus specifically on economic issues in his campaign, particularly preventing Wisconsin’s jobs from going overseas.

Bottom line, Duffy said, is that people in his district want change, and he’s ready to bring it to them. That’s how it is in the real world.