Chris Noth gets taste of politics on "The Good Wife"

Chris Noth is running for office - not the actor himself, but as his "The Good Wife" character, Peter Florrick.

Florrick is running for governor of Illinois on the CBS drama, and Noth says viewers shouldn't expect to see a problem-free campaign.

"They'll see on my part an election that's going to be a lot of ups and downs, kind of like the one that's going on right now," he told CBSNews.com last week. "Politics has a lot of dirty fighting going on in it, which makes it interesting. So there will be a lot of that."

"I think we've started off at such a great place," he added. "I feel like it could be our first season. It just feels fresh and new and the people in it are excited and everyone's working very hard."

He also had high praise for co-star Julianna Margulies, who plays his wife, Alicia Florrick, and the rest of the show's ensemble cast.

"She's just the best," he said of Margulies. "I think that's best ensemble cast I've ever been in... This is hard work, long hours but I'm working with extraordinarily talented people that raise the bar, the work ethic is great. Jules is just a wonderful actress and a really dedicated woman, so it's great."

Their characters have seemed to be getting closer again in recent episodes, but Noth isn't sure they'll ever be completely happy.

"I'm not sure that couple can ever find total contentment," he said.

When asked if Florrick - who faced scandal when the show began, but has since become more sympathetic - is a good guy, Noth referred to his character's profession as an explanation.

"He's like a lot of politicians. They have to go through hell in order to come back again. Hopefully they've learned their lesson. But we're talking about TV and entertainment, so who knows?" he said, adding "I think he's a complicated guy. There might be a percentage of good in that, but no one's just a good guy... You can't be a politician and just be a good guy."

When he's not playing a politician, Noth is doing some good of his own. The actor has teamed up with BV Wines to be a spokesman for their "Give & Give Back" campaign, aimed at fighting hunger in America.

"I had no idea that you've got 16 million hungry kids in the United States these days, that one in six people in America are hungry. And having a child myself, it sort of hit home," he said.

"With so much going on in the news about what faces us, we lose track of a very fundamental problem, that we think because we're such an affluent country that we don't have to worry about it...It's not just in rural [areas] - it's in our richest cities," he added. "You just don't see the face of it. So it needs to get out there, and we need to acknowledge the people who are doing something about it."

Along with working on "The Good Wife," Noth has two film roles coming up. The first is as an "ex-TV actor, drug addicted, crazed" character in "3, 2, 1...Frankie Go Boom," which comes out in theaters Friday, and another in the porn-star biopic "Lovelace" alongside Amanda Seyfried and Peter Sarsgaard.

He also stars as J.P Morgan in the Encore miniseries "Titanic: Blood and Steel," about the making of the doomed ship. The miniseries finishes up Saturday, and will air as a marathon on Sunday.

"It's a fascinating miniseries because it doesn't focus on the tragedy," he said. "It focuses on the aspirations and dreams of building what was 100 years ago the most incredible thing going."

As for whether or not he'd play ever play Mr. Big again, Noth seemed skeptical.

"Doubtful," he said when asked if there'd be a third "Sex and the City" film. "I think we're done with it. I think we've done it. You never say never, but I don't know what it would be. "I think everyone's moved on though. We all have families. We've all moved on from that."

But with "The Good Wife" is now in its fourth season, Noth says people recognize him more often now as Peter Florrick than from his role on "Sex and the City" - which is fine by him.

"Mr. Big is always gonna be part of the lexicon, whatever that is," he said, adding, "What I get from Peter Florrick is not 'Peter Florrick,' but, 'That show! I love that show! I love you in that show.' Which makes me happy. It's not just the idea of, 'I have a Mr. Big in my life' or that kind of thing. Saying, 'I love the whole show and you're a part in it,' that pleases me a lot more."