Ben Affleck is not denying possible Senate run to replace John Kerry

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If we can't have Stephen Colbert for South Carolina, perhaps we can have Ben Affleck for Massachusetts.

The "Argo" actor and director refuse to rule out a possible run at John Kerry's Senate seat in an interview with Bob Schieffer taped for Sunday's "Face the Nation."

"One never knows," he said to Schieffer. "I'm not going to get into speculation about my political future. I do have a great fondness and admiration for the political process in this country."

If Kerry is tapped to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, which seems all but certain, the race to replace him in the Senate will be fierce.

Others named as possible candidates are the late Sen. Ted Kennedy's widow, Victoria Reggie Kennedy and her son, Edward Kennedy Jr., former Governor Michael Kukakis, as well as Reps. Ed Markey, Mike Capuano and Steve Lynch in a contested Democratic primary.

Outgoing Sen. Scott Brown (R), who lost an ugly reelection contest to Elizabeth Warren in November, would be a strong contender for the seat.

Affleck may be primed to join the ranks of entertainers who have successfully made the leap from Hollywood to Washington.

Although he was born in California, Affleck moved to Cambridge when he was very young and from Good Will Hunting to The Town, his film career could double as a love letter to Boston. He's been active in politics since the 2000 campaign, when he supported Al Gore's presidential bid and Hillary Clinton's successful run for Senate.

In 2001, he talked about running for congress in a May 2001 interview with GQ Magazine, spelling out his "fantasy [to be] independently wealthy enough that I'm not beholden to anybody to I can run for congress on the grounds that everyday people--be they singers, or poets, or bankers, or lawyers, or teachers--should be in government." But then in 2009, he seemed to back off his earlier aspirations when said he was "happy with with what I'm doing now."

He came to Washington this week to testify on the Hill about the Democratic Republic of Congo, an issue on which he is well versed: Affleck formed the Eastern Congo Initiative in 2010 to support humanitarian efforts there.