Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) promoted his new book, Thirteen Soldiers: A Personal History of Americans at War, on Comedy Central's The Colbert Report Monday night.

Toward the end of the interview, McCain suggested that he might be interested in another run for the White House.

Colbert asked if the book was a “trial balloon” to be considered for the recently-vacated Secretary of Defense position in the Obama Administration. McCain replied, “Actually, I was thinking about running for president again, what do you think?”

“You would have the full resources of The Colbert Report at your back in 2016, if it were still on the air,” Colbert replied.

Of course, Colbert will no longer be doing his show at that time as he is slated to replace David Letterman on The Late Show on CBS.

National Journal is pretty sure McCain was joking:

McCain was likely joking, given the satirical nature of the show. About this time a year ago, the Arizonan said that, despite supporters urging him to run again, another presidential campaign was not on his mind. "I can assure you," he told The Arizona Republic, "I don't see it."

Speculation about McCain's political career has remained in the Senate, where his seat is up in two years. The five-term senator, who will be 80 in 2016, has said he is leaning toward running for reelection. In the meantime, he's got a new job to focus on: chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, where he is expected to continue to criticize the Obama administration's foreign policy.