ONTD

Stephen Colbert, host of the US satirical news show The Colbert Report, has paved the way for a presidential bid by transferring control of his political fundraising organisation to his fellow comedian Jon Stewart.

Lampooning the campaign finance rules that permit such fundraising groups, known as super pacs, Colbert announced it would be renamed the Definitely Not Coordinated with Stephen Colbert Super Pac.

Stewart, whose popular series The Daily Show precedes The Colbert Report on the Comedy Central network, made a guest appearance to sign the documents that made the transfer legal.

The move potentially paves the way for Colbert to enter the Republican presidential primary in South Carolina, his home state. Campaigning politicians are prohibited from simultaneously running super pacs, or political action committees.

Colbert merely hinted at such a decision, which he had hyped ahead of Thursday's show. He announced the formation of "an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for my possible candidacy for the president of the United States of South Carolina".

Patriotically coloured balloons were released in the studio while a graphic screamed: "I'm Doing It!"

Super pacs stem from a 2010 supreme court decision that changed the rules of corporate political donations, and have played a significant role in the 2012 race. A group supportive of the Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney, funded a slew of devastating TV ads in Iowa ahead of the caucuses there, ruining the chances of his rival, former House speaker Newt Gingrich.

Super pacs must be legally independent from the candidates they support, but in practice they do not need to co-ordinate: the Romney super pac is run by people who have known the former Massachusetts governor for much of his political life and have intimate knowledge of his campaign goals.

On Comedy Central, Stewart and Colbert discussed the peculiar legalities of their arrangement. With Colbert's lawyer, Trevor Potter, a former chairman of the Federal Election Commission, they spelled out that while Colbert was legally forbidden from participating in strategy and advertising with the super pac, he could still talk about his plans on his TV show and even volunteer for the group.

Stewart declared Colbert vice-president of youth outreach for the super pac. Along with Potter, the three joined hands like a sports team and, with thick irony, cheered in unison: "Non-co-ordination!

Colbert has been using his super pac, launched in May 2011, to parody the electoral system's contradictions and potential conflicts of interest.

The former Republican presidential candidate John McCain, appearing on the David Letterman show on Thursday night, criticised the system.

"The United States supreme court showed a degree of ignorance and naïveté I found shocking," he said.

Colbert made an attempt to run for presidency in the 2008 race, but his attempts to enter the South Carolina primaries were blocked – on the Republican side by the size of the fee, and on the Democrat side by a decision of the local party to block him.

The super pac may eliminate any such financial concerns. Colbert has not publicly revealed the amount raised from viewer contributions by the super pac, but on Thursday he repeatedly hinted that it was substantial.

A Public Policy Polling survey released on Tuesday found Colbert is polling ahead of former Utah governor Jon Huntsman in South Carolina. According to the survey, Colbert has 5% of the vote and Huntsman has 4%.

Reading out the figures on his Wednesday show, Colbert said: "This just got real."

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