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Assessing Colbert's Candidacy

Fans of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” know that Thursday was a big night on that satirical news show.

Host Stephen Colbert announced that he is forming an exploratory committee for a possible candidacy for president of the “United States of America of South Carolina.”

Moments after he made that announcement, Mike Allen, the Washington and Lee 1986 alumnus and Politico’s chief White House correspondent, appeared on the program to provide the potential candidate with good and bad news.

Assessing Colbert’s strength in the upcoming South Carolina primary, Mike said that Colbert will do well on the coast and in the college towns. But, he added, “I have bad news. Your ceiling is 5 percent.” To which Colbert replied, “How do you know my ceiling is 5 percent? I’m starting at 5 percent. My floor and my ceiling are at 5 percent?”

Mike went on to tell Colbert that a big factor will be how fast South Carolina college students return from their winter breaks and begin campaigning for him.

Those of us who remember Mike’s tireless and enthusiastic reporting from his days on the Ring-tum Phi were not the least surprised to see that he was filing a story and sending out live Tweets for Politico even as he was waiting to go on the set.

Click on this link to watch the entire segment.

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