Late-night comedian Stephen Colbert may not have qualified for the South Carolina ballot, but his Super-PAC has found a way to still prove disruptive in the coming presidential primary: urging supporters to vote for Herman Cain.
"The people of South Carolina are frustrated. It's less than a week before the election, and there's still no candidate for us. Plus, the economy," the narrator says. "Thankfully, there is still a name on the ballot that stands for true Americanimity: Herman Cain."
At that moment, a picture of Colbert appears with an arrow and text reading, "this guy."
The ad urges supporters to "on January 21st, vote Herman Cain" and concludes with a shot focused in on Colbert's face. Colbert then slowly smiles for the camera, much as Cain did at the conclusion of some of his now-defunct campaign's most lampooned - and highly watched - advertisements.
Cain dropped out of the presidential race in December after allegations of a series of sexual improprieties surfaced.
"The ad, entitled 'Not Abel,' shows support for Stephen Colbert’s possible candidacy by offering voters a way to show support for Stephen Colbert’s possible candidacy," the group - now headed by Colbert's late-night counterpart Jon Stewart - said in a press release.
“Tragic new reports show that South Carolinians can sometimes go for several minutes at a stretch without seeing a single political ad,” said Stewart in a release "Even more tragically, we discovered that one visionary leader wasn’t having his voice heard: Stephen Colbert. Now I can proudly say: He’s still not having his voice heard, because we do not coordinate with any candidate or campaign.”
Colbert's foray into the presidential field is largely a send-up of the Super-PAC system, which allows limitless contributions to organizations loosely affiliated with candidates. Over the weekend the group released an ad, narrated by John Lithgow, that mocked Republican frontrunner Mitt Romney as a "serial killer" of corporations.
Late last week, reports surfaced that the group - dubbed The Definitely Not Coordinating with Stephen Colbert Super PAC - had bought around $10,000 of commercial time in South Carolina and was negotiating a more substantial purchase.
