Kiwi lawyer Danielle McLaughlin is making a name for herself in the United States as a political commentator.

Kiwi lawyer Danielle McLaughlin is making a name for herself in the United States as a legal and political pundit, sharing her thoughts on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton to an audience of millions.

Danielle McLaughlin's American television debut went off without a hitch – nearly.

The 41-year-old Kiwi lawyer faced a phalanx of cameras under bright studio lights, ready to take on the right-wing hosts of Fox as a token "liberal" and explain to millions of Americans how their own political system works.

MIKE SEGAR Danielle McLaughlin describes the current US presidential race as "like The Apprentice meets Survivor", and says Donald Trump has to take a fair share of the blame.

Just one problem: she had no idea which camera to look at. "I didn't want to ask, because I didn't want to sound like a rookie … I'm sitting on set, watching the clock count down for a commercial break, and hoping and praying that someone's going to tell me."

READ MORE:

* Danielle McLaughlin: Trump trips and stumbles in a New York minute

* Donald Trump: 'He's the man'

* US election: the scariest things said on the campaign trail

Someone did, and McLaughlin's fledgling career as an American political commentator survived its first hurdle.

Kiwi lawyer Danielle McLaughlin is making a name for herself in the United States as a political commentator.

The television studios of the Big Apple are a far cry from Gisborne, where she grew up with her brother and sister and spent her school years "writing plays, dancing, and singing".

Politics wasn't high on her agenda, although dinner table discussions with her Irish mother and Australian father helped her to think about the wider world.

"Every night at dinner, my dad would ask us geography questions, so we grew up knowing there was a huge world out there."

She studied engineering at Auckland University and spent 18 months at an Auckland engineering firm, but decided it wasn't a good fit so headed to the UK for a Kiwi OE and four years working in marketing.

'ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE'

Next came a jaunt on the ski slopes of Colorado and a couple more years of marketing work, before McLaughlin again decided she needed something more from her life.

What followed next – a move to Boston to study law, and another shift to work at a law firm in New York – sparked both a political awakening and a desire to make a name for herself.

"New York is the kind of place where I just got here and thought, anything is possible."

McLaughlin started blogging about American politics and law, having co-authored a book, and within a few months caught the eye of a publicist who thought she deserved a wider audience.

She's now racked up nearly 20 appearances on American radio and TV, including Fox and MSNBC, keeping her strong Kiwi accent – "although I have to remember to speak slowly".

'LIKE THE APPRENTICE MEETS SURVIVOR'

Having now lived in the US for over a decade, McLaughlin is in "a state of disbelief" about the current squabbling and name-calling in the presidential race.

"It's like the Apprentice meets Survivor - everyone's fighting to stay on the island, and that obscures what really matters."

She largely blames business mogul, and Republican frontrunner, Donald Trump.

"Maybe his heart's in the right place, but he's treating this like a three-ring circus - he has nothing to lose in this race, because he's building a brand."

McLaughlin thinks Republican senator Ted Cruz will undo Trump at the party's convention, while Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton has enough momentum to beat out left-wing senator Bernie Sanders.

If Clinton and Cruz do go head-to-head, she predicts Hillary will make history and become the United States' first female president.

And McLaughlin will continue to make her own history as a Kiwi political voice in the United States.