Obama Supporters Blocked Colbert Candidacy
Stephen Colbert may have dropped his candidacy for president in the South Carolina primary, but there’s still more dirt being unearthed post facto.
As it turns out, a group of very determined Barack Obama supporters in the state were the key movers and shovers keeping the satirical news host off the ballot. While Obama’s camp says they had nothing to do with the vote blocking Colbert, recent news reports say otherwise.
In any event, I’m ultimately relieved Colbert didn’t make it on the ballot given the seriousness of a presidential campaign but the debate rages on.
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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.
source Tags: dumb news, stephen colbert, colbert report, barack obama, presidential campaign, south carolina democratic primary
8 Comments
Thats just like a woman, to take him seriously.
What woman and take who seriously?
No comment
C’mon Ed, you gotta do better than that. Please clarify.
Oh wait, I get it: Carol Fowler. I’m having a slow day. But I’m pretty sure it’s not only women having a cow over Colbert’s abortive run.
Of course it’s not just women. I was joking.
Is Colbert any more of a joke than Obama? Both will go down as unmemorable.
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