I’m loath to add even our marginal traffic to his overexposure but Fox News is covering wildfires and MSNBC is chattering about Dumbledore being gay and there’s no reason to believe we’re in for any respite soon. So here’s some admittedly thin comic gruel to help you pass the lunch hour. Colbert’s segment begins at 32:20; the exchange about Bert at 34:00 is cute and there’s a dry bit at 40:00 on Larry Craig on which Russert helps out. I’m not a regular MTP watcher but, er, isn’t it unusual for them to do 16 minutes on what amounts to a book plug? I assume this is their way of trying to help younger viewers acquire a taste for Sunday morning yakfests. Either that or it’s Russert’s version of comedy fantasy camp.

The Atlantic assesses Colby’s chances in South Carolina. The bad news: Republican primary voters are deep red and Democratic primary voters skew older and female, and the few young left-ish Comedy Central viewers who are already planning to turn out are probably committed to the Cult of Paul. The good news:

The political pros all think that Colbert voters, if any materialize, will be people who aren’t currently planning to vote in the primary.

Here things get a little more interesting. I can’t point to anything other than truthiness, but I believe the “drunken college student” demographic is being overlooked. Anecdotal evidence lends support. “I’m surprised how many students seem to get their news from Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert,” Blease admitted. “In the grand tradition of student mischief, you could see Colbert having a pied-piper effect.” Indeed, state law doesn’t require voters to register until 30 days before the primary, so there’s plenty of time for a Colbert wave to sweep South Carolina. And because South Carolina doesn’t have party registration, the independents—who, according to Scarborough Research, are Comedy Central’s largest voter demographic, narrowly beating out Democrats—can vote in either primary.

He needs 15% in any congressional district to qualify for delegates and earn a name-drop at the convention. As you’re about to see, that appears to be his ultimate goal. Click the image to watch.

Update: Fifth place on the Democratic side, ahead of … Bill Richardson?