Truthiness Comes to Campaign ‘08
by WonkoSteve
Today we welcome Stephen Colbert to the Wonkosphere. Two days (well, really one and a half) after announcing his intention to run for the Democratic and Republication nomination in South Carolina, Colbert debuts with a 1% Buzz Share. That ties him with Nobel Laureate Al Gore, and puts him in the lead over already-announced candidates Gravel, Hunter, Keyes, Kucinich, and Tancredo.
Colbert, who is positioning himself as South Carolina’s “favorite son” is trailing former North Carolina Senator John Edwards who is currently coming in at 7% of the buzz. Edwards, who has been positioning himself as South Carolina’s “native son,” was accused by Colbert earlier this week of stealing a campaign issue–so far his only campaign issue. Edwards is reportedly considering a challenge to go “toe-to-toe” with Colbert over the matter on Colbert’s show.
It remains to be seen whether Colbert can give himself the famous “Colbert bump” in coming weeks. Indeed there is some question in my mind about whether the bump has lost its kick. After Dennis Kucinich appeared on the show earlier this week to empty his pockets, he remained mired in the zero to one percent range for buzz share.
October 20th, 2007 at 10:02 am
[…] out Mike Gravel and in a tie with Mr. Undeclared and Bill Richardson. The Colbert campaign came out hitting yesterday, announcing its first line-in-the-sand policy statement. Mike Palanti, a Colbert […]