Nikki Haley Shoots Down Stephen Colbert for Senate - East Idaho News
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Nikki Haley Shoots Down Stephen Colbert for Senate

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GETTY P 081011 StephenColbert?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1354918497811 Sarah L. Voisin/The Washington Post via Getty Images(COLUMBIA, S.C.) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley may have brought Stephen Colbert’s Senate candidacy to a halt with the click of a button.

Rumors that the comedian was seeking the Senate spot left open by Sen. Jim DeMint’s departure circulated Thursday, after a Twitter account with the handle @ColbertforSC cropped up. Within a day, the account had more than 3,000 followers.

Just after noon on Friday, Gov. Haley made a post on Facebook that left little hope for Colbert.

“Stephen, thank you for your interest in South Carolina’s U.S. Senate seat and for the thousands of tweets you and your fans sent me. But you forget one thing, my friend. You didn’t know our state drink. Big, big mistake,” Haley wrote, linking to a clip of her appearance on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” in which Colbert forgot the state drink was milk.

Many in the Twitterverse were excited about a possible Senator Colbert. Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean even tweeted his endorsement.

But the authenticity of the Colbert account was questionable. The Twitter bio linked to a site that said it was not affiliated with Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert. And Colbert’s spokespeople never outright owned up to creating it.

“Now folks, I’m not going to sit here and say, I should be South Carolina’s next senator,” Colbert told his audience on “The Colbert Report” Thursday night. “Not when so many other people are saying it for me.”

Colbert encouraged viewers to tweet the South Carolina governor reasons she should appoint him to the U.S. Senate. Many did just that, even after the governor posted her Facebook denial.

“Hey @nikkihaley to be fair milk is super boring — moonshine would probably be more apropos for S Carolina,” @JasonKerepesi tweeted Friday afternoon. “Appoint Stephen!!”

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