Tagged: Stephen Colbert

We've been through this with him before, so talk from Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert about running for president needs to be viewed with suspicion.

But he's at it again and promises a "major announcement" on his show tonight (it airs at 11:30 p.m. ET).

Trevor Potter is a Washington lawyer with the firm Caplin and Drysdale. He also served as chair of the Federal Election Commission.

And he says Stephen Colbert is not joking.

At least when it comes to the comedian's SuperPAC, a political action committee authorized by the FEC to make "unlimited independent expenditures." Colbert's is called "Americans For A Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow."

Colbert didn't get it without help. He hired Potter to submit the paperwork and coach him on his FEC hearing.

Show-biz celebrities just gravitate toward someplace in Washington: Capitol Hill, the White House, certain restaurants. But on Thursday, Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert showed up at the Federal Election Commission, which was weighing his bid to launch a political action committee.

TV camera crews turned out, Colbert tweeted, and a crowd gathered. And along the way, the FEC made two significant decisions that could affect players in the 2012 elections.

'We Won! I Am A SuperPAC, And So Can You'

Comedian Stephen Colbert can launch a so-called super political action committee and, in theory, raise unlimited amounts of campaign cash for the 2012 political season, USA Today's On Politics blog reports.