Colbert in Carolina

photo credit: Wilder

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.

story credit:NYTimes

So, let's here it for Dick!

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.