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You may have watched the Republicans or the Democrats during their conventions this week and last, and been impressed with all the big speeches about how Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton will lead the nation.

Roseanne Barr has been watching, too, but she is not impressed.

"It's just a clown show," Barr said in a phone interview Wednesday, just after touching down in her hometown of Salt Lake City. "Both of them are pretty much clown shows. Occasionally, if you watch a lot, something relevant to the American people slips through, on both sides, but not very often."

Barr speaks not just as an entertainer who's politically aware. She speaks as someone who has been, in the words of Theodore Roosevelt (quoted Wednesday night by President Barack Obama), "in the arena." You see, Barr has actually run for president.

The story of her third-party run for office in 2012 is chronicled in the new documentary, "Roseanne For President!," which will screen this week at the Tower Theatre in Salt Lake City. Barr is in town for a Q&A after Saturday's 7 p.m. screening of the film.

"I thought I could be useful to a third party, to help popularize the whole concept of socialism and redefine it in the campaign," she said. "But, as the movie shows, that was not to be."

Barr said she was inspired by other famous people who threw their hats into the political ring — such as when gonzo author Hunter S. Thompson ran for sheriff in Aspen, Colo., in 1970. She also was inspired by a protest she was involved with in Hawaii, where she lives now, when local farmers banded together against the agribusiness giant Monsanto.

Instead, her campaign was dismissed as a publicity stunt or a comedy act — like when comedian Pat Paulsen, appearing on "The Smothers Brothers Show," ran for president in 1968. (Google it, kids.)

She said she was surprised at the negative reception.

"I thought that I was pretty respected, at least in progressive circles, as a person with a track record of breaking through a lot of barriers on my show," she said. "I had a progressive voice on television for at least a decade. I thought that counted for something, but it didn't."

"The more people who suggested she wasn't serious, the more serious that made her," said Eric Weinrib, who directed the documentary. "She's totally serious about the issues that she champions, and the people that she speaks for, throughout her career."

People may forget now, but "Roseanne" — which ran for nine seasons on ABC, from 1988 to 1997 — was not just a popular and funny show, but one that tackled a lot of serious issues about the struggles of working-class families. It also delved into women's rights, abortion and gay rights — all issues near and dear to Barr's heart.

Barr has also taken her politics onto the stage. In 2004, when filmmaker Michael Moore held rallies on college campuses in opposition to George W. Bush, she often appeared as his opening act. (She was there in Orem when Moore headlined an infamous event at Utah Valley State College, now UVU.)

It's the Moore connection that introduced Barr to Weinrib, who has worked on Moore films for the past decade. In 2011, Weinrib was in the studio when Barr was guest-hosting Joy Behar's talk show on HLN, with Moore on as a guest. On the air, Barr mused about a presidential run, and Moore encouraged her.

Weinrib recalled what Moore said as they were leaving the studio. "Michael said to me, 'During the commercial break, Roseanne said to me, "What do you think I should do about this running-for-president thing?" And I said, I think you should do it, and I think Eric should make a movie about it.' "

Weinrib's film captures the details of Barr's campaign, following her campaign manager, Farheen Hakeem, as she visits Green Party conventions in various states, talking up the candidacy and introducing Barr herself, who would frequently Skype in from Hawaii. Weinrib also covered Barr's campaign appearances and would hang out with her and her boyfriend, John Argent, for days at a time, capturing intimate conversations on a Flip camera.

"I spent more time with her in 2012 than I did with friends and family," Weinrib said.

Spoiler: Barr didn't get the Green Party's nomination. "I think, if truth is to be totally told, I waited too long," she said. "Had I entered the thing three months earlier, I think it would have been totally different."

The Greens picked Jill Stein, who is also the frontrunner to be that party's pick at its national convention next week in Houston. Barr doesn't like Stein very much after their encounters in 2012; she backs Stein's opponent, Kent Mesplay, and has offered to be his running mate.

In 2012, Barr stayed in the race, running with the Peace and Freedom Party — the same party that in 1968 nominated comedian and social activist Dick Gregory (another of Barr's inspirations). She appeared on the ballot in California, Florida and Colorado, with antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan as her running mate.

Barr believes the winner-take-all model of American democracy isn't serving the people, and speaks well of the British system that allows for a vast array of parties forming coalitions.

"We should have actual representational government, which we don't have," she said. "If you get 3 percent of the vote, 3 percent of the representation should belong to you."

At one point in the film, when Barr is talking politics at home, Argent jokes, "You sound like some hippie Jew from New York City." She responds, proudly and defiantly, "I'm from Salt Lake City, Utah, sir!"

(As it happens, Barr was one of three candidates in the 2012 race with Salt Lake City ties. Former mayor Rocky Anderson ran on the Justice Party ticket, and occasional Utahn Mitt Romney was, of course, the Republican candidate.)

Barr credits her Salt Lake City upbringing with sparking her political awareness.

"I did learn that community was a very important thing, and that it was our responsibility to take care of each other and to cooperate," she said. "Salt Lake City taught me that value, which I think is an incredible one and seems to be missing in most places. We were raised that way here, and it's good."

Sean P. Means writes The Cricket in daily blog form at http://www.sltrib.com/blogs/moviecricket. Follow him on Twitter @moviecricket. Email him at spmeans@sltrib.com.