Mr Qaddafi was demanding that in exchange for any trial of Libyan nationals abroad, the American officials responsible for a bombing raid on Libya in 1986 that killed 37 people, including hisadopteddaughter, be tried in Libya.
Colbert, whose tongue-in-cheek public-relations coups have included having a Virgin America airplane and a flavor of Ben and Jerry's ice cream named after him, followed the exploits of his"adopted daughter" on his nightly show.
The tactics harkened back to McCain's defeat here in 2000, when rumors circulated that McCain's wife was a drug addict and that hisadopted Bangladeshi daughter was a mixed race child he had fathered out of wedlock.