Kid Rock has offered his most direct comments yet about a potential U.S. Senate run, saying he is still "exploring" the idea while steering resources to voter-registration efforts.

The Detroit rocker's late-night website post says he "will be scheduling a press conference in the next 6 weeks or so to address this issue amongst others, and if I decide to throw my hat in the ring for US Senate, believe me … it’s game on ..."

The post follows two weeks of carefully worded, noncommittal campaign teases from the 46-year-old star, which came as he released a pair of new songs and announced a 2018 concert tour. In the new statement, released at midnight Wednesday, he knocks the idea that the Senate talk was "a ploy to sell shirts or promote something."

"I was beyond overwhelmed with the response I received from community leaders, D.C. pundits, and blue-collar folks that are just simply tired of the extreme left and right bull (expletive)," he writes. "As part of the excitement surrounding this possible campaign, I decided to take a hard look to see if there was real support for me as a candidate and my message or if it was just because it was a fresh new news story."

Meanwhile, Rock announced he is forming a nonprofit organization to promote voter registration and said money raised from campaign-associated merchandise will go to registration efforts.That will include helping to register fans at his shows.

"The one thing I've seen over and over is that although people are unhappy with the government, too few are even registered to vote or do anything about it," Rock writes. "We have over a year left until an actual election, so my first order of business is to get people engaged and registered to vote while continuing to put out my ideas on ways to help working-class people in Michigan and America all while still calling out these jackass lawyers who call themselves politicians."

The statement comes two weeks after Rock sparked a national frenzy by launching the website KidRockforSenate.com, followed by social-media posts with political messages, playfully combative references to sitting Democratic senator Debbie Stabenow, and even a campaign logo.

Rock had already been thrust into the Senate conversation months earlier through no doing of his own: His name was one of many tossed around at the Michigan Republican Party's state convention in February as party officials strategized to unseat Stabenow in 2018.

Rock's new website upped the ante in a big way, and his prospective run drew a mix of skepticism, bemusement and serious analysis from both political and entertainment media. A widely shared Politico piece on Sunday was among many that warned against underestimating his chances in Michigan, where his quarter-century music career and frequent shows of home-state loyalty have made him a popular figure.

The July 12 site launch was followed two days later by a pair of new music videos — "Greatest Show on Earth" and "Po-Dunk" — along with word that he'll be touring in 2018. Rock is already scheduled for six nights in September at Detroit's new Little Caesars Arena.

To run in Michigan's Aug. 7, 2018, primary, Kid Rock would be required to collect 15,000 petition signatures and submit them by April 24.

Contact Brian McCollum: 313-223-4450 or bmccollum@freepress.com.