I’m not really interested in whether or not he should or would or what the voter numbers might be, but at this point in the game, with less than a year to go until the 2012 US Election, is there a mechanism by which Stephen Colbert - or anyone else, but Colbert is funniest - could become President of the United States, or did he miss too many deadlines?
Could Colbert present himself as an Independent? What (general) legal steps would he have to complete in order to make it happen? What kinds of deadlines does he have to face?
I’m pretty sure there’s nothing to be done for getting him the Republican vote… or is there? Is it, as of today, still possible to get him on the ballot for most of the remaining primaries on Super Tuesday?
Running as a Democrat is pretty definitely not possible, or is there still some exceedingly unlikely but perfectly legal and valid mechanism by which this could happen?
The thought that the American population could either deliberately or accidentally vote in Stephen Colbert as President of the United States is cracking me up, but is it even possible?
Again, it’s not a question of likelihood or probability - just could it be done, if he wanted to try?
He has to get on the ballot in enough states. Different states have different rules. In some, he may now have to produce a long form birth certificate.
Or, if he got enough write-in votes. Theoretically possible, but that’s way out in SciFi land.
I don’t know the filing deadlines for each party or each state, but there’s no way he’s getting on the ballot for either one of the major parties for the primaries. It’s way too late. He could run as an independent if he got enough volunteers to collect signatures in each state, or he could convince an already-existing third party that already has that ballot access to nominate him.
No way he could get a major party nomination, and running as an independent doesn’t have much satirical value, not to mention being difficult, expensive, and unlikely to succeed.
However, as a Democrat, if I lived in South Carolina I sure as hell would be voting for Herman Cain.
Since you said “become President” and not “get elected President” he could convince the eventual Republican nominee to put him on the ticket as VP. Then naturally he would step in if there were any unfortunate “accident.”
He cannot get the GOP nomination (unless there is some form of brokered convention, which is essentially unheard of in the modern context). He could run 3rd-party or independent in the general election, but to do so seriously would require hundreds of millions of dollars at a minimum and nearly unthinkable circumstances.
As for future elections, I would be proud to vote for the guy. He’s thoughtful and moderate (in the true meaning of the word). He would have to put his career on hold to do it seriously (possibly destroy it), but I imagine even the most humble jester fantasizes about being king.
Americans Elect claims that it will have ballot access in all 50 states. It has no primary process, just an online convention. He could conceivably win that nomination, although the AE people would be unhappy, since it wants to debut as a Very Serious Movement.
Hell, with an online nomination, I’d almost guarantee that Colbert would win that nomination. Just look at all the other crap Colbert has had named for him or managed to get Colbert Nation to do. I mean, there was a bridge in Hungary, a Canadian hockey team, an ice cream flavor, a leatherback turtle, an airplane, a species of spider, an elephant seal, and (at first) the new wing of the ISS.
It’s theoretically possible. A Republican candidate needs 1144 delegates to get the nomination and it’s way too early in the primary season for anyone to be close to that. (The current delegate count is Romney 14, Paul 10, Santorum 8, and Gingrich 3.)
Let’s say the race continues and nobody gets a decisive lead. They get to the convention in August and nobody has 1144 delegates. The delegates are only committed to the first round of voting - after that, they can start switching to other candidates. And if things stay deadlocked, they can even pass on the existing candidates and look for somebody who didn’t have any delegates.
As I said, I wasn’t too concerned about whether he would or should, or even how likely it was - I wanted to know whether the laws of the land were such that it could happen were he to try and people were to vote for him (and he had the money, etc. etc.).
The very fact that it’s possible, no matter how unlikely, makes his whole joke that much better. I love the idea that someone could become President as a satirical commentary on the political system, though I agree it would kill his entertainment career, which I think I’d much rather he continue doing!
Feel free to continue to delve into the various hypotheticals - I’m enjoying this thread. Thanks for the answers!
I absolutely love John Stewart and Steven Colbert.
They bring a perspective to USA politics that was SO lacking in former years.
Those of you who weren’t around to endure the period of time between the Fall of Saigon to the Rise of Reagan have no idea how the media dealt with politics.
Boring old white men pontificating on Sunday morning.
No perspective at all. No reasoned debate. No alternative to the norm.
