As Idaho Sen. Risch’s sort-of, kind-of “I guess” endorsement of Ted Cruz for president during a CNN appearance hit the late-night comedy shows, I had a chance today to ask Risch what’s up with that: Has he, or has he not, endorsed Ted Cruz for president? “You need to talk to Wolf Blitzer about that, ‘cause he’s the one that said I endorsed him,” Risch responded. “I never used the word ‘endorse,’ he did.”

Risch maintained he hasn’t endorsed Cruz. “No, I haven’t,” he said. “You’ve never seen me use the word ‘endorse.’ Having said all that, my preference obviously is for Cruz at this point.”

And he added, “It depends on what you mean by endorse. Am I going to go door-to-door for him handing out literature? Probably not.”

By the way, Stephen Colbert made hay of Risch’s halfhearted endorsement last night, playing the clip in which Blitzer asked Risch, “So, you want Ted Cruz to get the Republican nomination?” and Risch responded, “At this point, there’s no choice.”

“It’s that kind of passion that inspired the new campaign slogan,” Colbert declares, “Ted Cruz: Abandon all hope!” Then he gets in another zinger about the “definition of endorsement.” Colbert also described our state’s junior senator as “Idaho senator and inappropriately chipper funeral director Jim Risch.”