The Cain Train Collides with Stephen Colbert’s Super PAC Satire
Published at
Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images(WASHINGTON) — Herman Cain, the man who ended his GOP presidential bid with a speech quoting the cartoon Pokémon, has re-fueled his banner-wrapped bus to help a different television character, comedian Stephen Colbert, win the support of South Carolina primary voters.
Colbert, who announced his intention to explore a presidential bid in South Carolina last week, is hosting “The Rock Me Like a Herman Cain: South Cain-olina Primary Rally” on Friday to declare that he and Cain “are the same man.”
Because Colbert is not on the South Carolina primary ballot, the Comedy Central comedian has called on Palmetto State voters to pick Cain, whose name still appears on the ballot, in Saturday’s primary as a way to determine if there is a “hunger for a Stephen Colbert campaign.”
“On Stephen Colbert’s endorsement of himself as Herman Cain, I find it very clever and humorous, as it should be,” Cain told Fox411. “Anyone who finds what Mr. Colbert is doing offensive, should simply lighten up.”
Cain added, “To be perfectly clear, I will not be assuming Stephen Colbert’s identity. We are very different when it comes to the color of our — hair.”
According to a Marist poll released Thursday, South Carolinians have at least a few pangs of Colbert hunger. About 18 percent of likely GOP primary voters said they were at least “kinda somewhat likely” to vote for Colbert if he chose to run for president.
But just like the announced GOP candidates, Colbert’s support has a ceiling, albeit a much lower ceiling. More than half — 56 percent — of South Carolinians polled said they are not likely at all to cast their ballot for the comedian.
The poll was funded by the pro-Colbert Super PAC Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow, which Colbert founded in June and turned over to fellow comedian Jon Stewart last week. The Super PAC has been the central theme of Colbert’s weeklong presidential posturing.
Copyright 2012 ABC News Radio