Obama supporters helped keep Colbert off the South Carolina ballot

What happened to the friendly challenge of the “grit-off”?! Don’t Senator Obama’s supporters have a sense of humor? Not according to CNN’s Political Ticker (emphasis added):

Obama supporters pressed Democratic Party officials to keep Colbert off ballot
Posted on the CNN Political Ticker
November 6, 2007

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (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.

Colbert, the host of Comedy Central’s “Colbert Report,” saw his hopes to be placed on the primary ballot ended last week when the South Carolina Democratic Party executive council voted 13-3 to block his bid, with the majority of voters saying he was not a viable enough candidate to be included in the primary.

At least one member of the executive council, who requested anonymity, told CNN he felt “pressured” by former State Superintendent of Education Inez Tenenbaum to oppose Colbert from being placed on the ballot.

Tenenbaum is a high-profile supporter of Obama. Her endorsement of Obama in April was touted by the campaign, and she has appeared at several Obama campaign events, including the opening of one of their campaign headquarters this summer. Obama campaigned for Tenenbaum in South Carolina when she ran for Senate in 2004.

“She said it wouldn’t be fair to the other candidates. That he [Colbert] wouldn’t be sincere. That he was only running in one state,” said the executive council official.

The official added: “The Obama people, they just didn’t want him at all.”

Tenenbaum disagreed with the characterization that she lobbied to keep Colbert off the ballot for political reasons.

“I think lobbying was too strong a word,” she said in an interview with CNN. “I called them to see what they were thinking, and if they had made up their mind. I am a volunteer in that campaign, and so I am not a staffer. And I thought it could have taken votes away from a lot of people.”

Another Obama endorser who regularly appears at campaign events, state Rep. Bakari Sellers, also made phone calls to members of the party’s executive council about Colbert, according to Sellers.

“I placed the calls as a concerned Democrat, realizing that we are a country in despair,” Sellers told CNN. “It is not a time for games or to make a mockery of the process.”

Given the lopsided vote of the executive council against Colbert, it’s unclear if the calls had significant bearing on Colbert’s fate as a bona fide presidential candidate.

But the calls raise questions about the Obama supporters’ motives, given their close ties to the campaign and the fact that Colbert and Obama both draw support from a similar demographic.

“A lot of Obama’s support is among younger, college-educated folks, and a lot of Colbert’s watchers are younger, college-educated folks,” said Scott Huffmon, a political scientist at Winthrop University.

“I understand that Obama might potentially lose some voters,” said Huffmon, who also noted that having Colbert on the ballot would likely bring in new primary voters rather than take them from other candidates. “But in a race where every vote counts it’s a valid concern.”

The Obama campaign denied any connection to the phone calls.

Read the rest of the ticker here.

I guess he’d rather see the ‘Report’ back on the air than have to deal with Stephen in his voter pool. Which, for the senator, is a valid concern if they draw from the same demographic. But we all know Stephen will have something to say when he gets back on the air. Oh, it is ON, Obama!

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