Stephen Colbert’s presidential candidacy may have been a joke to many, but apparently some in South Carolina took it seriously enough to lobby Democratic officials in the early primary state to deny him a spot on the state’s ballot.
The lobbying was pretty intense, according to several people, with most of it against allowing Mr. Colbert, the comedian on Comedy Central and native son of the state, on the ballot. They included prominent supporters of Senator Barack Obama, Democrat of Illinois, although another prominent supporter lobbied in favor of Mr. Colbert. The Obama campaign said that it had no connection to the vote.
The party’s executive council voted 13-3 last week to reject Mr. Colbert’s ballot application. Mr. Colbert formally acknowledged yesterday that he was dropping his candidacy but the party’s vote has drawn fierce criticism on the Internet, saying the move was undemocratic, and continues to roil the party.
Those lobbying against Mr. Colbert included Don Fowler, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee and the husband of Carol Fowler, the current chairwoman of the state party.
Mr. Fowler distributed a letter to council members saying that Mr. Colbert “seeks to make a travesty of our primary.” In his letter, he raised the specter of the 2000 presidential campaign, saying that if Ralph Nader had not drained votes from Al Gore, Mr. Gore could have been president.
Mr. Fowler said in an interview that he had heard some concerns expressed by Obama supporters that Mr. Colbert might siphon young voters away from Mr. Colbert, but that was not his motive in urging the council to say no to Mr. Colbert.
“I am conscious of the fact that the Obama people are concerned about the potential effect, but that in no sense was the reason that I wrote that letter,” he said. Rather, he said, he wanted an orderly process. “For somebody to make light of that process as if it were his own little play toy, that is offensive,” he said. “We would be the laughing stock of America. Electing the president is serious business.”
Lumus Byrd, a member of the council — and one of the three who voted to allow Mr. Colbert’s name to appear on the ballot — said he had been lobbied by three other members of the council who argued that Mr. Colbert would expose South Carolina to ridicule.
“South Carolina has been the butt of so many jokes, and the folk here are a little sensitive about anything that a comedian who’s got that much airtime might say,” Mr. Byrd said. “They were afraid he was going to talk about some of our dirty little linen,” he said, citing the Confederate flag, which flies on the grounds of the statehouse, the “corridor of shame” of dilapidated schools and the state’s racial history.
Another call to council members came from Inez Tenenbaum, the state’s former superintendent of education, who supports Mr. Obama. Ms. Tenenbaum said she wanted the state to be taken seriously, particularly because it is the first in the South to vote. “I can’t imagine Iowa and New Hampshire letting a comedian on the ballot,” she said.
Ms. Tenenbaum said she told council members that Mr. Colbert could siphon votes from all the candidates, not just Mr. Obama. Besides, she said, Mr. Obama’s voters “are very faithful.”
She also said that she doubted her call was very influential because she only called a few members and by the time she did, they had already received a memo from party officials saying Mr. Colbert did not meet the criteria to get on the ballot.
Dick Harpootlian, the former chairman of the state Democratic party and an Obama supporter, lobbied on behalf of getting Mr. Colbert on the ballot.
“I think humor plays a big role in politics,” Mr. Harpootlian said. “To sit around dour-faced discussing macro-economics, good golly. Most of us got involved in politics because it was fun.”
He also said he thought a Colbert candidacy would have been good for South Carolina. “He was drawing attention to our state, he wasn’t making fun of if it _ well, in a way he was _ but we missed an opportunity to draw people into our primary,” he said. He said that so many young people get their news from Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” with Jon Stewart and the “Colbert Report”, “why not go after that demographic?”
He also said that if Dennis Kucinich, “who believes in U.F.O.s,” can get on the ballot, Mr. Colbert should be able to as well.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Colbert said he had no comment.
Hahahaha This is why Colbert is one of the best figures in politics.... !!!!!
ROTFLMAO over and over...
