When I was growing up, I went through a phase where all I wanted to read were biographies. Somewhere between reading about Babe Ruth and Shaq, I picked one up about Ronald Reagan, and though I hadn’t lived long enough to differentiate his place in American history from any other twentieth-century politician (I was probably six or seven), I thought it was odd that an actor could become president.

Of course, the book probably detailed the fact that he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, but in my mind – at least at that age – Hollywood and politics were mutually exclusive.

As I’ve grown older, I realized that the skill sets that politicians need for election and actors need to land roles are not much different. Many performers have realized that as well, especially as notoriously liberal entertainment industry has become more vocal – and more organized – since Reagan’s time in office. Organizations run by people like Bono contribute millions to humanitarian crises, an Austrian bodybuilder runs what is arguably the country’s most progressive state (minus that whole Prop 8 thing), and a satire-loving Saturday Night Live alum now officially sits in our Senate.

Now it’s Alec Baldwin’s turn.

Long an outspoken screen player – and, coincidentally, SNL vet (though never an official cast member) – the hoopla stems from this month’s Playboy interview. (Note: That is a link to Playboy’s Web site. While there may be nothing to file under ‘NSFW’ on this page, your employer may consider the URL a red flag.)

Baldwin, who has been active enough with groups like PETA and People for the American Way to have his own song in Team America: World Police, helps prove to us just how odd the political process truly is. In the interview, he speaks about being encouraged to move to Ohio, New Jersey or Connecticut to run for governor, despite saying he is a “carry-me-out-in-a-box New Yorker.”

While the prospect that he move simply to make it easier to get in office blows a huge hole in the reasoning behind the current political system, he kind of passes the idea off as “fantasy,” and proves how adept he is at understanding his place in the world. He’d be better off sticking to politics either in the Senate or his own state, and he knows it.

While I’ll most likely disagree with many of his opinions on hot-button issues (do we really need another liberal Democrat in Congress right now?), he would be a nice change of pace for politics. He seems forceful enough to get his voice heard immediately, didn’t just run up the ranks of a prestigious law school to enter straight into governance, and is somewhat used to having the public scrutinize his every move already.

Usually I balk at celebrities who want to enter the political realm, but at a mature 51, I believe Baldwin could transition nicely from playing an aloof yet powerful boss on the Tina Fey-created 30 Rock to United States senator. After all, he’s Alexis de “Tocqueville compared to Arnold Schwarzenegger,” he once told the New York Times, and I’m ready to believe him. He cares, and that’s what Congress needs.

Though much noise has been made over the last 24 hours, a minor detail most media has left out is that he has three years left on his contract for the hit show 30 Rock. Come 2012, though, we may see Alec Baldwin’s name in more headlines on CNN than TMZ.

It will be interesting to see if Baldwin does in fact run, and whether his temper and tendency for crude humor will overpower the tremendous amount of intelligence and political pragmatism the guy genuinely seems to embody. Either way, he’ll be entertaining to watch.

Here’s to hoping Tina Fey writes his speeches.

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