Rolling Stone scoops the world: Stephen Colbert tacitly admits he is running for president, drops Stewart from ticket, names Obama as running mate

In Maureen Dowd's piece for Rolling Stone excerpted here, Stephen Colbert acknowledged, albeit indirectly, that he is, in fact, running for president.

"When Colbert traveled recently to his alma mater, Northwestern University, to be the grand marshal at the school's homecoming parade, he noticed "Colbert/Obama '08" T-shirts throughout the crowd. ("I can't tell Jon I'm dropping him to go with Barack,'' Colbert tells me later. "Maybe he'll read it in this article.")"

More importantly, he also reveals that Jon Stewart, beloved mentor that he may be, has been dropped from the ticket in favor of Barack Obama who clearly brings some serious political star wattage to the ticket. Of course, this also reveals Colbert's clear political acumen. In one fell swoop in a throwaway paragraph in Rolling Stone, Colbert cuts the legs out from under two of his strongest rivals for the presidency in one fell swoop, one by abruptly leaking that he's being dropped from the ticket and the other by naming him as his VP candidate. A move like that takes balls, and Stephen Colbert, though you probably need not be reminded, has big brass ones the size of coconuts. And, at the same time, reveals that one of this nation's leading academic institutions is endorsing him for President.

Genius.