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By Lucas Shaw

The race to be the next President of the United States might now come down to Barack Obama and…Stephen Colbert?

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The Comedy Central funny man announced his intention to run for president of the “United States of America of South Carolina” at the taping of his show Thursday night and will try to compete in South Carolina’s GOP primary Jan. 21.

“I’m proud to announce I plan to form an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my candidacy,” Colbert said.

While Colbert won’t actually compete for the GOP nomination in the general election, this may give Republicans another option beyond Mitt Romney in a pivotal state. Every Republican presidential candidate since 1980 has won South Carolina’s primary.

[np-related]

“Clearly my fellow South Caroliniacs see me as the only Mitternative,” Colbert said.

Colbert may not be able to enter the race since the state does not permit write-in votes in primaries for the president and vice president. Chris Whitmire, spokesperson for the South Carolina Election Commission, told CNN that there “won’t even be a way for someone to do that because it’s not allowed under the law.”