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Senator Colbert? Stephen Colbert wants Jim DeMint's Senate seat

South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley gets to choose retiring Sen. Jim DeMint's replacement until the 2014 election. Stephen Colbert and his fans are hoping she'll consider him for the job.
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UPI/Jim Ruymen
UPI/Jim Ruymen 
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Published: Dec. 7, 2012 at 10:07 AM
By KATE STANTON, UPI.com

Here's your chance, Colbert.

Sen. Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) announced Thursday he would leave the Senate in January to head the Heritage Foundation, which means Gov. Nikki Haley will get to pick DeMint's replacement. By several accounts, Tea Party conservative Rep. Tim Scott is the likely choice, but everyone's favorite mock-conservative (and South Carolinian native) might give him a run for his money.

A mock Twitter account, @ColbertforSC, popped up shortly after DeMint's announcement, linking to a Draft Colbert for Senate website and calling on Haley to consider the Comedy Central comedian.






Naturally, Colbert is getting in on the action himself, asking "Colbert Report" fans to tweet Haley under the hashtag #SenatorColbert.


"Stephen is honored by the groundswell of support from the Palmetto State and looks forward to Governor Haley's call," Colbert's publicist, Carrie Byalick told Mother Jones.

Colbert also addressed the campaign on his show Thursday night saying, "You want somebody young, somebody conservative, somebody from South Carolina, maybe somebody who had a Super PAC, wait a second..."

"I know when I look at the U.S. Senate, I say to myself, you know what they could use? Another white guy."

So does he have a chance? While he did run for president in 2007 and 2012, and runs the Peabody Award-winning Super PAC, Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, The Atlantic Wire's Elspeth Reeve thinks Colbert is "vastly overqualified" for the Senate.

"Colbert is a nerd. We can't waste his brains in the Senate," Reeve quipped.

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