Stephen bemoaned the fact that with Barack’s 30-minute informercial, his Emmy could again be snatched right out of his hands. But according to the Live Feed blog, that’s most probably not going to happen:

It’s an interesting question. The special was certainly high quality. It won raves from critics. And if the American Music Awards can win an Emmy for lighting direction, surely Obama can bring home a statue for getting 33.6 million viewers to watch him hug Ohio voters, right?

But according to a Television Academy spokesman, Colbert is safe.

“I don’t have a specific reference in the rules that would make it ineligible,” says John Leverence, senior vp awards for the Academy. “But telethons are eligible only if they are not political. Though the ad was not specifically for raising money, it would be close enough to the spirit of that rule to be ineligible.”

Even, hypothetically, if the special was eligible, Leverence adds, it would be more appropriate for the nonfiction special category than the outstanding individual performance category.

Whew! That’s a good thing to hear. But it’s still a beautiful thing to see Stephen bemoan the possibility:

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