No 'Affleck for Senate' in 2013. Is Schieffer's Harvard Gaffe to Blame?

After weeks of speculation, President Barack Obama last Friday nominated Massachusetts U.S. Senator John F. Kerry to serve as Secretary of State during his second term. But even before Obama made the big announcement, the possibility that Ben Affleck might run for Kerry's vacated Senate seat has served as a conveniently inclusive discussion topic for readers of Politico and People alike.

We all know by now that Senator Affleck won't be a reality for the foreseeable future. "I love Massachusetts and our political process, but I am not running for office," Affleck wrote on Facebook on Monday afternoon. Though he cited other forms of civic engagement as his current priorities, we at Flyby think there might be another reason Affleck decided to say no this time around.

Until Monday, Affleck's own comments on the matter of a possible Senate run were nothing short of infuriatingly vague and noncommittal.

In the midst of all this madness (which, we'd like to point out, is not the first of its kind), Bob Schieffer, host of CBS' Face the Nation, took to the airwaves last Thursday to discuss his recent interview with Affleck. "[Affleck] is a very committed—a very serious person," Schieffer said. "You know, he went to Harvard and majored in Middle Eastern studies."

Unfortunately for all of us, this statement is simply untrue. Affleck never went to Harvard, and Harvard doesn't even have a Middle Eastern studies concentration—unless Schieffer was thinking of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations? And just because Affleck likes Noch's doesn't mean he went here.

Alas, Schieffer's misinformed description of Affleck may have proved too discouraging for the actor as he weighed his political options. As we saw this fall, no one likes a Harvard politician—until Election Day, that is.