The 2006 film “Man of the Year” is beginning to come to life. But instead of funnyman Robin Williams taking the stage, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert will star in the real-life story of a talk-show, comedian presidential hopeful.

Even if Colbert does not make it through the primaries and through the fall election, he will still influence the 2008 presidential election in one way or another and most likely for the better.

Colbert announced his bid for America’s top office on his satirical talk show, The Colbert Report, on Comedy Central earlier this month, according to an Associated Press article. Colbert said he is planning to run in his home state of South Carolina and only South Carolina, showing his mockery of the process.

Colbert’s show is founded on political mockery and his campaign is no different. The campaign is nothing more than a political and publicity stunt that is a real, live satire of the system from within.

Though it is a stunt, it will bring more attention to the coming presidential election.

People are always looking for the negative mud-slinging in the elections and this is a light, fun, tongue-in-cheek way to get apathetic voters interested in the political race. And those already looking at the race will most likely start looking at it more closely.

Another aspect of his campaign is the potential of bringing up issues that legitimate politicians fail to act on causing them to make policy changes for politics overall.

In any case, this is a nice distraction from the already heated election that will spawn a positive reaction in the political community, either from voters or in the form of policy change.