newjerseynewsroom.com

BY BOB HOLT

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

Montclair resident and newest potential Presidential candidate Stephen Colbert tried to buy the naming rights for the South Carolina Republican presidential primary set for Jan. 21. While he may have succeeded in a publicity stunt, it looks like South Carolinians will not actually be able to vote for Colbert come next Saturday.

Colbert had wanted the primary’s official name was to become “The Colbert Super PAC South Carolina Republican Primary.”

After learning that he was leading established Presidential candidate Jon Huntsman in a poll, on “The Colbert Report” Thursday, the satirist announced he was forming an exploratory committee on his possible candidacy for the “president of the United States of South Carolina.”

Reuters reported that Colbert was leading Huntsman in South Carolina with 5 percent of the votes to Huntsman’s 4 percent.

But there's one problem. According to the Los Angeles Times, the deadline for getting on the Republican ballot was Nov. 1, and the South Carolina State Election Commission states that write-in votes are not allowed in political party primaries or for president and vice-president.

After being told he cannot be a candidate and run a Super PAC at the same time, Colbert gave control of his Super PAC to Daily Show host and New Jersey native Jon Stewart. Super PACs are committees that collect unlimited money from corporations, unions and individuals and spend it on ads supporting a candidate, as long as the advertising does not coordinate with the candidate or their campaign.

In December, Colbert wrote in an editorial for the State that his Super PAC offered to pay the $500,000 financially troubled South Carolina counties needed to fund the Republican primary. Along with the naming rights, he also asked for a non-binding referendum, which read as follows:

"In order to address the issue of Corporate Personhood, the enfranchised People of the Sovereign State of South Carolina declare that:

Corporations are people.

Only people are people."

According to the State, South Carolina Republican party officials turned down the offer for the naming rights, along with Colbert’s effort to co-sponsor a January presidential debate in Myrtle Beach.

And as CBS News reports, being a write-in candidate may be more diffuclt than anticpated. But if nothing else, Colbert's mock presidential run succeeds in calling attention to the monetarily unrestrained super PACS, which help to finance the attack ads running presently in South Carolina.