The Colbert Report

Last night on “The Colbert Report,” Stephen Colbert checked in with the Republican candidates for president and took stock of the nominating contest. The verdict: It’s been a weird few days for the Republican Party, huh? Mitt Romney, who looked like the inevitable nominee after a pair of victories, found out on Thursday that he never actually won the Iowa caucuses. Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich, the man best positioned to seize the momentum and defeat Romney in tomorrow’s South Carolina primary, faces some hash allegations from his second wife, Marianne. What else? Rick Perry dropped out of the race, and proceeded to endorse Gingrich anyway. And Rick Santorum said something weird about couches.

This past Thursday, Stephen Colbert handed over control of his much-publicized super PAC to Jon Stewart in order to explore a run for the Republican nomination. Over the weekend, the PAC began showing a campaign ad in South Carolina that equates Mitt Romney with a serial killer, based on his work at Bain Capital. Did Colbert go too far? Well, of course not, because, as he pointed out on his show last night, election law prohibits him from coordinating with the PAC. So, clearly, Colbert (like all the rest of the candidates who just happen to have the support of super PAC money) remains helpless to stop his former organization from continuing to air its ads about “Mitt the Ripper.” Totally helpless. Right?

What to do if you’re Stephen Colbert? The “Report” host is surging in Republican primary polls (despite not being an actual candidate) and the temptation to explore a run for president grows larger by the day. The problem, however, is that candidates are prohibited by federal election law from operating a super PAC, which Colbert very publicly does.

Donald Trump announced yesterday that he would no longer moderate of the upcoming Newsmax Republican debate, thus ending weeks of back-and-forth that saw every candidate except Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum withdraw from the event. Of course, Trump didn’t quit because his presence at the debate risked descending it into some sort of bizarre media sideshow — no, no — but because he refused to rule out a third-party run for president. Right.

With less than a month until the Iowa caucuses, the race for the Republican nomination is finally headed to the voting booth, where rank-and-file party members will make the choice, presumably between Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich. The  stakes never higher, serious Republicans no doubt hoped that the theatrics that characterized the early stretches of the nominating process would recede into the background. Unfortunately for them, Donald Trump has gotten himself a debate.

Predictably, establishment conservatives like George Will and Karl Rove are incensed at the prospect of a Trump-moderated debate. Stephen Colbert, meanwhile, has his own bone to pick with the hotel tycoon, and last night he dusted off his best Donald impression to do it: