I'm running for President, declares sitcom star Roseanne

Roseanne Barr starred in one of America’s most popular sitcoms. She has pledged to legalise drugs, annul most household debts and sack the Federal Reserve (AP)

So, she has gone and done it. Several months after announcing on a late-night talk show that she wanted to run for the highest office in the land – the presidency of the United States – Roseanne Barr, the one-time sitcom star, has formally filed papers seeking to be the nominee of the Green Party in the 2012 race.

"I am running for Green Party nominee for POTUS. I am an official candidate. I am 4 the Greening of America and the world," she declared to her followers on Twitter. Anyone thinking she will run a conventional campaign might want to consider her slogan: "Vote for me, and I fix this shit!"

Still, the filing of her papers appears to be real and the Green Party is not entirely to be ignored. Ralph Nader, the consumer rights activist, headed the party's ticket in 1996 and again in 2000, when he was accused having siphoned votes from Al Gore, enabling George W Bush's controversial victory.

Ms Barr, 59, may find the Green Party does not want her, despite her indisputable name recognition and the likely appeal of her platform, which includes legalising drugs, forgiving all credit card and home loan debt and sacking the Federal Reserve. At the party's convention in July she will be vying for the nomination with Jill Stein, a long-time activist, who easily wins internal popularity polls. That she might not prevail at the convention has apparently occurred to the actress, whose show Roseanne was one of the most watched in the US from 1988 to 1997. "I run in support of the Green Party and probably of Jill Stein – hopefully I can be of service by speaking on media about a viable choice 4 voters," she said on Twitter.

Even if Ms Barr is a non-starter, the Green Party might benefit from her celebrity wattage.

"I will barnstorm American living rooms," she said in a Green Party candidate questionnaire obtained by the Associated Press.

"Mainstream media will be unable to ignore me, but more importantly they will be unable to overlook the needs of average Americans in the run-up to the 2012 election."