The political hits.. they just keep on coming.

Colbert Announces Presidential Pursuit

NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert has announced his candidacy for president on "The Colbert Report," tossing his satirical hat into the ring of an already crowded race.

"I shall seek the office of the president of the United States," Colbert said Tuesday on his Comedy Central show as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.

Colbert, 43, had recently satirized the coyness of would-be presidential candidates by refusing to disclose whether he would seek the country's highest office — a refusal that often came without any prompting.

Colbert said he planned to run in South Carolina, "and South Carolina alone." The state, one of the key early primaries, is also Colbert's native state. Earlier this week, South Carolina public television station ETV invited Colbert to announce his candidacy on its air.

Exactly how far the mock conservative pundit planned to stretch his impression of a presidential candidate wasn't clear. Colbert rarely breaks character on camera, including at his memorable speech at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner last year.

ETA

A friend and I have been debating this all morning and I'm curious to hear what you think. Our concern is whether or not Colbert's candidacy could potentially skew the primary results in some tangible way. For example, what if Colbert took votes that would have gone to Obama, and due to this Clinton wins the nomination? We have considered that Colbert is only targeting South Carolina right now, and that probably isn't a huge decision state, nonetheless, Colbert's candidacy could still skew the results. I think I've concluded that his running is somewhat irresponsible - what does it say about a nation that puts up a candidate as a joke? Don't get me wrong - Colbert is an extremely smart and savvy politico, and might even run the administration better than the current occupants of the White House, but if he doesn't intend to run seriously, then is it not irresponsible to get into a race already fraught with candidates? I think we are already headed for an election where the presidential nominees from each party are not going to have been selected by any majority. That's my two cents... what's yours?