South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has the opportunity to appoint an individual to replace outgoing Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) in the US Senate, and even though she’s already turned down Comedy Central late-nighter Stephen Colbert, it turns out he is the leading candidate in recent poll of possible seat-fillers.
But don’t get too excited – many were named, and nobody has a true head of steam. Colbert is in the lead with a mere 20% in a poll conducted by Public Policy Polling.
Describing its results, PPP stated, “Colbert tops the wish list of who South Carolina voters would like to see join that body at 20%, followed by Tim Scott at 15%, Trey Gowdy at 14%, Jenny Sanford at 11%, Henry McMaster and Mark Sanford at 8%, Jeff Duncan and Joe Wilson at 5%, and Mick Mulvaney at 4%.”
Colbert is using his program to press his candidacy despite Haley’s turndown. According to the Washington Post, one reason he says he would be perfect is that his Comedy Central contract prohibits him from accepting any other full-time position – implying that serving in the Senate would not violate that prohibition.
RBR-TVBR observation: Politics and comedy mix. Our earliest personal memory is when Pat Paulsen used his Smothers Brothers gig to run for president. To our knowledge, however, the only person ever to move from comedy to politics successfully is Al Franken (D-MN), whose path was unique to say the least. If the ill-fated Air America Radio Network did anything, it allowed Franken a platform from which he could emphasize his political side and downplay the other.
At any rate, we have no expectation that Colbert or any other political comedian will be joining Franken in the US Senate any time soon.
