(2007-10-23) Colbert For President

Stephen Colbert announced that he'll run for US President, but only be on the ballot in South Carolina.

He notes that South Carolina's Democratic Party uses proportional representation for the national convention, which means he could get a vote there pretty easily.

Meanwhile, Colbert could face action from the Federal Election Commission (FEC) if the comedian continues to promote the run on the cable network - due to laws barring corporate campaign contributions, Politico.com reported Friday. It may hinge on whether his candidacy is viewed as a complete, or only partial, "joke."

He was on MeetThePress. David Carr notes But the message I draw from Mr. Colbert is not that members of the media-political complex need to laugh at themselves, but that they need to take a hard look. The incipient generation of news consumers has made it clear that it does not want to see a bunch of guys with really nice neckware standing on the White House lawn talking about what they did not learn in the press room behind them and then flick at "sources" who suggest that "one thing is clear."

Before his announcement, he's already guest-columned for Maureen Dowd. Well, suddenly an option is looming on the horizon. And I don't mean Al Gore (though he's a world-class loomer). First of all, I don't think Nobel Prize-s should go to people I was seated next to at the Emmys. Second, winning the Nobel Prize does not automatically qualify you to be commander in chief. I think George W Bush has proved definitively that to be president, you don't need to care about science, literature or peace.