Colbert

Well, we’re only eleven-and-a-half months away from the 2008 elections, and as we’ve come to expect, the political news and blogs are becoming awash in polling numbers.

Via Donklephant, I came across a Rasmussen poll notable because of it’s inclusion of potential third-party candidates:

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found Hillary Clinton leading Rudy Giuliani by three percentage points in a four-way race that includes Ron Paul running as a Libertarian candidate and Ralph Nader representing the Green Party. The poll shows Clinton earning 42% of the vote while Giuliani attracts 39%. Ron Paul is the choice for 8%, Ralph Nader is preferred by 4% and 7% are not sure[...].

A recent Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that comedian Stephen Colbert attracted 13% support as a third-party candidate.

I’d be interested on what the polling would indicate if Bloomberg were thrown into the mix. (I realize that he’s been pretty adamant about not running, but still it would be interesting to see the numbers.)

And, the idea of Colbert potentially being a kingmaker or a spoiler in a Presidential campaign both amuses and disturbs me greatly. Perhaps Colbert loyalists could be convinced to get Colbert cleared at least as a legitimate write-in candidate in a few states, just to add to the expected circus atmosphere of the political arena next year?

Seen at CNN:

Two prominent supporters of Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in South Carolina called state Democratic Party officials urging them to oppose putting comedian Stephen Colbert’s name on the primary ballot, according to party officials and Obama supporters with knowledge of the calls.

The Obama campaign folks involved say that they were just trying to feel out the powers-that-be for what their likely decision would be in allowing Colbert on the ballot.

Although the campaign workers were presumably understandably concerned about Colbert “stealing” Obama voters, due to the presumed overlap in supporters, I think that seeking to keep Colbert off the ballot may have been a strategic error.

After all, having Colbert on the ballot would likely have increased turnout in South Carolina. I’d bet that most of the folks who would have voted for Colbert are folks who won’t turn out for the conventional slate of candidates.

I’d also bet that a non-trivial portion of Colbert-inspired voters would have opted to vote for a real candidate…and that would most likely have benefited Obama.

Throw in the bad press….and this definitely seems like bad strategery to me.

Well, the entertainment level of the upcoming primary season just dropped a couple of notches.  From Reuters, via the New York Times:

Colbert, who has admitted he does not want to be president but just wanted to run for it in his native state of South Carolina, had filed for the Democratic ticket earlier on Thursday and paid the $2,500 filing fee.

Hours later, the party’s executive council voted 13-3 against allowing him on the ballot for the January 26 primary contest, party spokeswoman Keiana Page told Reuters. The eight other major Democratic candidates were accepted, she said.

It was already known that Colbert was deciding not to get a spot on the GOP ballot, due to the $35,000 filing fee required for that primary, and the need to avoid federal election laws that kick in at $5,000 of spending.

I can understand South Carolina’s decision to keep the ballot to “real” candidates (although, that leads one to wonder why Gravel and Kucinich will appear)…but it’s somewhat disappointing to see them passing up the opportunity for a lot of interest to be generated about Colbert.

I wonder if we’ll start hearing Colbert pushing himself as a write-in candidate in South Carolina.

With tongue firmly planted in cheek, I draw your attention to this wire service story, in case you hadn’t already heard the news:

“I shall seek the office of the president of the United States,” Colbert said Tuesday on his Comedy Central show as red, white and blue balloons fell around him.[...]

Colbert said he would run as both a Democrat and Republican. He earlier explained the strategy: “I can lose twice.” He claimed three running mate possibilities: Colbert-Huckabee, Colbert-Putin or Colbert-Colbert.

And, apparently he’s planning to run only in South Carolina.

Considering how little I like the candidates already in the running…heck, I’d vote for him.