(Newser) – Who could take over Jim DeMint's Senate seat at the end of the year? Conservatives are talking Rep. Tim Scott, but another South Carolinian has thrown his rather high-profile hat into the ring: one Stephen Colbert, reports the New York Post. Colbert dedicated a segment of his show last night to less-than-subtly suggesting himself, and encouraged his 4 million followers to tell Gov. Nikki Haley to pick him, noting, "I wouldn't just block legislation, I'd bodycheck it!"

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“Stephen is honored by the groundswell of support from the Palmetto State and looks forward to Governor Haley’s call,” says a Colbert publicist. Sure, Colbert would face a lot of resistance from more, uh, enthusiastic Republicans—Madeleine Morgenstern, for example, called Colbert a "bombastic, faux-conservative," notes the Week. But Colbert is a strong Catholic who loves Richard Nixon, says the Atlantic, which proclaims him "vastly overqualified." Even so, he shouldn't hold his breath: Nikki Haley swung back via Facebook today, reports CNN: "Stephen, thank you for your interest in South Carolina's US Senate seat and for the thousands of tweets you and your fans sent me," she said. But: "You forget one thing, my friend. You didn't know our state drink. Big, big mistake." Got milk, Stephen? Here's the exchange. (Read more Stephen Colbert stories.)

