Monday was a big day for the candidacy of Stephen Colbert, the most high profile presidential candidate who will not actually be on the ballot in South Carolina's Saturday primary. After relinquishing control of his own Colbert Super PAC to Jon Stewart to avoid a conflict of interest, the Super PAC released an ad endorsing Herman Cain for president, as Cain will be an official choice on the ballot despite no longer being in the race. Watch the official ad released by the Super PAC here.
That night's episode of "The Colbert Report" explained the wisdom behind the Colbert Super PAC's choice of Cain. Despite proclaiming that he is "forming an exploratory committee to lay the groundwork for [his] possible candidacy for the President of the United States of South Carolina," numerous analysts pointed out the small technicality that Colbert is two and a half months late to file for official candidacy, and the South Carolina ballot has no place to write in candidates.
Colbert was outraged by this affront on democracy, as he believes that it's a citizen's right to write in any candidate they want, no matter how ridiculous: "Sleepy. Dopey. Perry."
The solution? Well, regular views of the "Report" know that the Colbert Super PAC officially endorsed Herman Cain for president on October 18, and despite Stephen's presidential ambitions, the Super PAC is sticking to its guns and continuing support for Cain.
"Because Cain and I are so similar, I think that if this Saturday Herman Cain were to get a significant number of vote, that would be a sign that voters are hungry for a Stephen Colbert campaign."
Colbert also pointed out that since South Carolina has an open primary, voters are not restricted to registered Republicans. "Anyone who shares my values can show it by voting for Herman Cain," Colbert informed his viewers, encouraging his legion of young (and likely liberal) fans in South Carolina to show up at the polls.
"independents, Democrats, college kids, viewers of my show, people who attended rally, my Twitter followers, my good friends on Reddit: People of the Internet, stand up and shout! Because you are legally eligible to go down to the polls and tell the world how much you love Herman Cain."
As we've pointed out, Colbert simply can't help himself when it comes to tampering with the political process in big (and small) ways. Just think, if only his speech at the White House Correspondents Dinner had gone a little better, we never would be treated to Colbert shamelessly exploiting the bureaucracy of politics for comedic purposes.