Uh...no.
Let's say he continues his 2007 run, with the Democrats allowing him onto the South Carolina ballot. The buzz around his 'campaign', which was already wearing off by the time he dropped out, disappears entirely due to the writer's strike, depriving him of much rationale for remaining in the race. He turns the whole thing into a glorified book tour (for I am America (and so can you!)), signing autographs and giving increasingly bizarre public speeches. As they get closer to primary time, voters decide that maybe they should actually vote for whoever they want to be President. He ends up coming fourth, with 2% of the vote, largely centred in college towns.
That's if 'Stephen Colbert' runs for office. Stephen Colbert, on the other hand -- the beloved satirist and comedian, acclaimed as one of the nicest men you'll ever meet, a Sunday school teacher -- has, I think, a potential future ahead in public office. He's wealthy. He's liberal. He's obviously very intelligent, and surely he doesn't want to spend the rest of his career playing 'Stephen Colbert', any more than NPH wanted to play Doogie Howser forever.
So Stephen Colbert runs for New Jersey's 8th congressional district, where he lives, in 2012, when Bill Pascrell retires. After the initial media hysteria he becomes a mainstream liberal, quietly effective congressman, noted for his appearances on Meet the Press and the Rachel Maddow Show. He unsuccessfully runs for the Senate in 2020, winning the nomination but losing in a Republican wave year (as the Class of 2008, who largely survived 2014, retire or are defeated). So he retires, writes a few books, and becomes a beloved liberal doyen of the party.
And that's the Word.
Let's say he continues his 2007 run, with the Democrats allowing him onto the South Carolina ballot. The buzz around his 'campaign', which was already wearing off by the time he dropped out, disappears entirely due to the writer's strike, depriving him of much rationale for remaining in the race. He turns the whole thing into a glorified book tour (for I am America (and so can you!)), signing autographs and giving increasingly bizarre public speeches. As they get closer to primary time, voters decide that maybe they should actually vote for whoever they want to be President. He ends up coming fourth, with 2% of the vote, largely centred in college towns.
That's if 'Stephen Colbert' runs for office. Stephen Colbert, on the other hand -- the beloved satirist and comedian, acclaimed as one of the nicest men you'll ever meet, a Sunday school teacher -- has, I think, a potential future ahead in public office. He's wealthy. He's liberal. He's obviously very intelligent, and surely he doesn't want to spend the rest of his career playing 'Stephen Colbert', any more than NPH wanted to play Doogie Howser forever.
So Stephen Colbert runs for New Jersey's 8th congressional district, where he lives, in 2012, when Bill Pascrell retires. After the initial media hysteria he becomes a mainstream liberal, quietly effective congressman, noted for his appearances on Meet the Press and the Rachel Maddow Show. He unsuccessfully runs for the Senate in 2020, winning the nomination but losing in a Republican wave year (as the Class of 2008, who largely survived 2014, retire or are defeated). So he retires, writes a few books, and becomes a beloved liberal doyen of the party.
And that's the Word.