Colbert’s Presidential Run May Spark Debate

Stephen Colbert’s Doritos-sponsored run for the U.S. presidency could land him in hot water with the Federal Election Commission.

According to ABC News on Wednesday, it seems that although Doritos skirted election laws by sponsoring Colbert’s coverage of his own campaign on “The Colbert Report” rather than directly paying his campaign, Colbert and Comedy Central could still run afoul of the FEC.

Said Lawrence Noble, who is former general counsel for the FEC:

“The real problem comes in the fact that he actually has his own show, talking about his campaign, paid for by a network. These are the kind of things on slow days you’d debate until the late afternoon at the FEC, but there are serious questions that come up. In theory, he could end up having some campaign finance problems.”

Noble said the FEC will likely consider whether Colbert is a real candidate for federal office before taking action. He said one definition of a candidate would require him to raise or spend at least $5,000.00 in the course of his campaign.

Colbert recently said in an inteview on NBC’s “Meet The Press“:

“I don’t want to be president. I want to run for president. There’s a difference. I’m far realer than Sam Brownback, let me put it that way.”