LOS ANGELES – Who’s shining an unexpected light on the shadowy political world of “super PACs”? It’s late-night comics such as Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert.

Maher, the host of HBO’s “Real Time With Bill Maher,” announced on Thursday that he was donating $1 million to the pro-Obama group Priorities USA Action. The move comes after Colbert has spent the past few months mocking super PACs — political funds that operate with very limited restrictions — with a fundraising group of his own: Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow.

In an interview Friday, Maher — whose political views have been described as libertarian and who has taken frequent swipes at President Barack Obama — said he made the super PAC decision two weeks ago when he was attending parties over the Grammys weekend.

“All the liberals were talking about how the election is in the bag for Obama,” he told the Los Angeles Times. But the election is competitive primarily in 12 states, Maher added. “He could absolutely lose. It’s a different world than it was in 2008. We live in the age of the super PACs. Unless the rich liberals get into the game, Obama will be horribly outspent. If he is outspent, he stands a good chance of losing.”

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Texas Rep. Ron Paul are battling to take on Obama as the GOP nominee.

Maher said he decided to help the pro-Obama group “partially out of fear — fear of Santorum and Romney, watching the Republican field and the 20 debates they’ve had and the bubble of insanity they live in. Half the country is nuts and Obama could very well lose. He may not have been the best president in his first term, but given the alternative, I feel there’s a clear choice.”

Of course, it also helps that “Real Time” returns with new episodes next week. The comedian’s gift certainly didn’t have to be revealed publicly during an hourlong special, “CrazyStupidPolitics,” which was streamed live on Yahoo.com on Thursday night. Maher even brandished a giant prop check.

Sheen’s ex-wife faces cocaine charges

ASPEN, Colo. – Charlie Sheen’s ex-wife has been charged in Colorado with possession and distribution of cocaine stemming from her arrest in Aspen.

Brooke Mueller was arrested by police on Dec. 3 after a woman reported being assaulted at a nightclub.

Pitkin County chief deputy district attorney Arnold Mordkin said Friday that Mueller has also been charged with third-degree assault.

Both drug charges are felonies. Possession with intent to distribute is the most serious and carries a penalty between four to 12 years. Conviction on the possession charge could result in up to 18 months behind bars. Mueller has vowed to fight the charges.

Sheen and Mueller divorced last year after Sheen was arrested on suspicion of assaulting her in 2009.

Serbs avoid Jolie movie in droves

BELGRADE, Serbia – The Serbian premiere of Angelina Jolie’s Balkan war drama “In the Land of Blood and Honey” was met by derision Friday, as Serbs angry over what they consider an unfair depiction stayed away in droves.

Screenings attracted just a handful of viewers, local media said Friday, with one newspaper calling that “more than the movie deserves” and another deeming it a “fiasco.”

Jolie’s directorial debut – a love story in which a Serb soldier finds his ex-lover, a Muslim woman, among sex slaves in a camp – has triggered mixed emotions in the postwar Balkans, which are still grappling with historic ethnic tensions.

It received a standing ovation in the Bosnian capital of Sarajevo, but has sparked outrage among Serbs, who have blasted the movie as propaganda designed to portray them as the villains of the bloody 1992-95 Balkan wars.

Only 12 people attended the earliest screening in a theater in central Belgrade, some of whom left before the end.