Khazei Wants Colbert to Come to Massachusetts

Social activist Alan A. Khazei '83, one of four individuals vying to be the Democratic candidate for the late Edward M. Kennedy's '54-'56 senate seat, could be the reason that Stephen Colbert may be coming to a political forum near you.

Last Wednesday, Khazei's campaign released a video challenging Colbert to host a debate among the Democratic primary candidates.  In the video, Khazei demanded to know if Colbert was "tough enough to come here to Massachusetts—the birthplace of freedom, the birthplace of our democracy—and moderate a debate up against four progressive Democrats."

"It's for real," David R. Jacobson, Khazei's deputy communications director, told us.

Check out the video—and find out if Colbert has responded—after the jump.

The video has earned more than its share of media attention, according to Jacobson, who said it had more than a thousand views on the first day of its release. It's part of the Khazei campaign's push to have weekly televised debates before the primary election.

"Ninety-three percent of voters in Massachusetts don't even know when Election Day is, which is of course December 8," Jacobson said, referring to the date of the primary. "So we wanted to come up with some sort of idea to gain more attention and get the word out that we need more debates."

The challenge is more than a media stunt, he told us. The Khazei campaign actually wants Colbert to host a debate.

"The goal of doing this video was actually asking him to come down to this debate. so it's not actually to just generate attention," Jacobson said. "We would be open to doing whatever he'd be comfortable with, but I'd assume he'd be similar to the same kind of personality that he has on his show."  Something like this, maybe?

As of now, it's still unclear whether the candidates will get to see Colbert in the flesh. Jacobson said at 4 p.m. today that the Colbert Report's producers have not yet gotten back to the Khazei campaign.