Could South Carolina voters trade one bombastic conservative senator for another bombastic "conservative" senator? Stephen Colbert hopes so.
With Tea Party Republican Senator Jim DeMint quitting before the end of the year to head the conservative think tank The Heritage Foundation, there's a position open in Congress.
"I'm not going to sit here and say I should be South Carolina's next senator, not when so many other people are saying it for me," said Colbert on his Comedy Central show "The Colbert Report."
"I know when I look at the U.S. Senate, I say to myself, 'You know what they could use? Another white guy,'" Colbert said.
Colbert, a South Carolina native, has run for office several times in the past, most recently for President of the United States of South Carolina. He also started two actual super-PACs, and ended up raising over $1 million during the 2012 presidential campaign.
Shortly after DeMint's announcement, a Twitter account names @ColbertforSC was created, garnering over 3,000 followers in a day.
Unfortunately for Colbert, according to South Carolina law, the governor will appoint a replacement for DeMint. Republican Governor Nikki Haley has a friendly rivalry with Colbert, but she posted her response to his candidacy on Facebook.
"Stephen, thank you for your interest in South Carolina's U.S. Senate seat and for the thousands of tweets you and your fans sent me," she said. "But you forget one thing, my friend. You didn't know our state drink. Big, big mistake."
Haley was referring to a South Carolina trivia contest she and Colbert engaged in the last time she was on his show, when he forgot that South Carolina's state drink was milk.
However, depending on how serious Colbert actually is about getting into politics, this may not be the end for his campaign. Haley's appointment to fill DeMint's seat is temporary. Voters will need to elect a permanent replacement in 2014, so Colbert could use his ample notoriety and resources to mount a campaign then.
Haley has already said she won't run for Senate in 2014. Comedian and former Saturday Night Live cast member Al Franken successfully ran for the Senate in Minnesota in 2008, and actress and activist Ashley Judd is considering a run for the Senate in her home state of Kentucky in 2014 or 2016.
If anyone in Hollywood can pull it off, it's Colbert.