Colbert Super PAC ad urges votes for "Rick Parry" at Ames straw poll

In Iowa this weekend, a handful of Republican presidential candidates will urge Americans to vote for them in the closely-watched Ames Straw Poll. But Stephen Colbert, the political satirist-turned- Super PAC founder, is urging them to cast write-in votes for a different candidate: "Rick Parry."

Colbert, the host of Comedy Central's "Colbert Report," warns that Super PACs are "flooding the Iowa airwaves, telling you to vote Rick Perry at the Ames Straw Poll," and that "they think they can buy your vote with their unlimited Super PAC money." The Federal Election Commission approved Colbert's PAC earlier this year, but restrictions dictate that ads purchased by the group can air only on Comedy Central.

"But 'Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow' ask, what about our unlimited SuperPAC money?" Colbert continues. "We want you to vote for Rick Perry too. But not their Rick Perry. Our Rick Parry... that's Parry with an A. For America. With an A for Iowa."

The so-called "Rick Parry" is depicted in the ad by Texas Governor Rick Perry, who is not on the ballot of the Iowa straw poll but who is widely expected to jump into the race. In one image, Perry is depicted wielding a gun in the air. In others, he appears grimacing and making what might be interpreted as menacing hand gestures.

"I called dibs on Rick Parry a long time ago," said Colbert in a press release obtained by the Atlantic, which characterizes his role in the Colbert Super PAC as President and Assistant Equipment Manager. "I recognized that he's got the tough talk, the cowboy boots, and the history-of-shooting-coyotes-during-morning-jogs that our country needs. So if anybody is going to be taking unlimited donations and then not be coordinating with his campaign, it's going to be not us. So to prove we're truly uncoordinated, we're asking voters to write in Parry with an A - as in America, IowA, or PresidAnt. You can feel confident he's not asking us to do that."