Two words: Senator Colbert.
It’s actually, sort of a possibility.
The late-night comic and host of “The Colbert Report” suddenly found himself at the center of a political guessing game today when South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint announced he was stepping down to take a new job running the conservative American Heritage Foundation.
Would Stephen Colbert consider running for the soon-to-be empty seat from his home state?
Within an hour of DeMint’s announcement, the Twitter account @ColbertforSC was launched with an opening message: “Reporting for duty, South Carolina” under a picture of a saluting Colbert. It garnered nearly 1,000 followers in the first few hours.
The #ColbertforSC site is the work of Matt Ortega, a digital specialist working for a Washington, DC communications firm.
“The Twitter account is not run by Colbert and the site it points to is a Draft Colbert site I built,” Ortega tweeted a short while ago.
“Stephen is honored by the groundswell of support from the Palmetto State and looks forward to Governor Haley’s call,” Colbert’s publicist said in an official statement released an hour ago.
South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will appoint DeMint’s replacement.
Asked if he was affiliated with the @ColbertforSC Twitter site, Colbert replied by email:
“I can neither confirm nor deny anything or anyone that may arise in fervent support of what many are calling ‘Stephen Colbert’s Appointment with Destiny.’
“It’s an exciting time for all of us South Carolinians,” he said.