Stephen Colbert, Comedy Central’s faux political bloviator, is adding faux candidate for president to his resume, a form of schtick that first saw Pat Paulson of the old Smothers Brothers show engage in. In this instance, however, pollster Rasmussen Reports ran some numbers, and in selected matchups, Colbert pulls double digits running as a third-party independent. Colbert has said he will run in the primaries of both parties in his native South Carolina. Rasmussen went ahead and tested him as in independent in a race against Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rudy Giuliani (R-NY), and the results were Clinton 45%, Giuliani 35% and Colbert 13%. When Fred Thompson (R-TN) was substituted for Guiliani, the results were almost identical: Clinton 46%, Thompson 34%, Colbert 12%. His power demo is 18-29, where his draw was 28% in the first contest and 31% in the second, in both cases outpolling the Republican candidate.
TVBR/RBR observation: Some are pointing out that this is bad news for marginal candidates who are struggling to get into the spotlight. The more it shines on Colbert, the less may be left over for the Gravels and Hunters of the campaign. You can tell us whether that is a good or a bad thing.
