Let’s not mash words here.  No body expected him to seriously pursue this and he isn’t.  We knew from the beginning that he was in it to lose.  And maybe that’s what did him in.  It was clearly stated that the main reason that he wasn’t allowed on the ballot was because of his earlier statement that he only planned on running in South Carolina.  So, no big loss to the race.

What I think is an issue, and Colbert hinted at it in his concession speech on his show, is whether he has a constitutional right to be on the ballot as a democrat or not.  It’s plain that he has a right to be on the ballot.  No doubt about that.  But does he have a right to run as a democrat.  I really dislike the partisan system we have, so I would argue that he has the right to run as whatever he likes.  If he wants to run as under the Hollywood News Anchors party, he should be able to do so.

Anyone with a little more constitutional law knowledge that can tell us what the real low down is on this issue?

The host of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” will file papers late Wednesday or early Thursday to put his name on South Carolina’s Democratic primary ballot, a source familiar with the comedian’s strategy said.

I know that most people don’t think he stands a chance since he’s only filed in one state, and he really doesn’t, but I’d love to see him stage a major write in campaign.  Of course, even though he’s played by the rules and paid the fee to get on the S.C. ballot, it still needs approval by the Democrat council of S.C. to actually get on the ballot.

The state party’s 26-member executive council — with representatives from each of South Carolina’s six congressional districts as well as state members of the Democratic National Committee — will meet Thursday afternoon to decide which candidates meet the criteria to appear on the ballot.

Since when do the parties decide who we get to vote on?  And we all thought we were voting of our own free will.  Not a chance.  We get who they say we get.  So much for your vote counting.   If he wants to run for President in one state and one state only, why can’t he?  Who cares if he is nationally viable.  It’s a pretty sure bet that he won’t win, and the primaries are partisan anyways.  All it will do is skew the votes for the other candidates.

All they’ll accomplish by not allowing him on the ballot is create more buzz and it’ll throw their numbers off even more because people will vote for him on the principle of the matter.  Don’t believe me, ask the thousands of college age voters in S.C. what they’ll do.  There’s no better way to rock the vote than to give them a rebellious cause to vote for.