When Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) announced his exit from the US Senate, late night television host Stephen Colbert saw his chance to follow in the footsteps of Al Franken (D-MN) and be the second late-night comedian in the body. But Franken was elected; Colbert requires an appointment.
Colbert, the former Daily Show correspondent whose show is essentially a spinoff and follows it nightly on Comedy Central, has “run” for president already, and operated a super PAC during the 2012 election season for satirical reasons.
He also happens to be from South Carolina – his presidential effort involved a primary in that state – so when DeMint announced his retirement, Colbert took the opportunity to offer his services.
He encouraged his fans to send tweets to SC Gov. Nikki Haley suggesting his appointment.
In a Facebook post, Haley thanked him for his interest but turned him down cold. It seems that he was unable to tell her that the official state drink is milk during an appearance she made on “The Colbert Report” back in April. And that was enough to apparently end his bid to earn DeMint’s seat by gubernatorial appointment.
So if Colbert wishes to follow in Franken’s footsteps, he’ll have to take the hard path that Franken took – election.
