The Johnsonian

Issue date: 10/24/07 Section: News

Stephen Colbert, host of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report," announced last week that he will be joining the race for the White House.

Colbert plans to run under both the Republican and Democratic ballots in the South Carolina primaries in January, and he signed the appropriate papers for each political party on his show last Wednesday.

But getting on either ballot can get costly.

It costs $2,500 to even be considered for the Democratic ballot. To be placed on the Republican ballot, it costs $35,000, CNN reported earlier this week.

The cost of getting on the ballot may not be the only thing holding Colbert back. According to recent news reports, altering the candidacy application can result in a candidate not being put on the ballot.

"I would be disappointed if he oesn't make it on the ballot," Melissa Kinyon, senior psychology major, said. "However, I feel like this is a good chance for him to gauge the public response, so if he is serious he may have people interested in 2012 or 2016."

Kinyon also mentioned that other figures such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Ronald Reagan were in show business before going into politics, and people questioned their seriousness as well.

"I want to believe that he is serious with the knowledge that he has the personality that you cant really tell if he's being serious or not," she said. "And the type of political satire that he does hasn't really been around that long, so it's not like someone could have done it before."

The Republican primary will be held on Jan. 19, and the Democrats will be voting Jan. 26 of 2008.

Since this announcement, Facebook groups supporting Colbert have been popping up literally by the minutes, a few being "1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T Colbert," "Stewart and Colbert 2008" and "A Stephen Colbert Presidency."

"I joined a group for it," senior political science and broadcast major Heather McLendon said. "I think it's hilarious."

Even though McLendon finds Colbert's campaign funny, she doesn't consider it to be serious.

"Just the fact that he's only running in South Carolina shows he's not serious about it," she said. "It's the same with him running on both the Republican and Democratic ballots. He's just not serious about it."

She also hopes that voters can see the lack of seriousness in his campaign.

"He appeals to the young generation more than the more traditional candidates, but people who actually care about politics aren't going to vote for him," she said. "But he probably will get more votes than Ross Perot."

Since the announcement, students around campus have been discussing the possible outcomes of Colbert running.

"We had a pretty big discussion about it at the beginning of a history class I'm taking," said Brandon Galbraith, junior history major. "I don't think he has a chance at becoming president. He's just trying to make a statement."

Others agreed that the spotlight is the main goal of Colbert's quest for the presidency.

"I'm laughing. That's the reaction he wanted isn't it?" Emilie Sons, senior dance major, said.

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