Stephen Colbert Gives Herman Cain the ‘Colbert Bump’ in South Carolina

(Richard Ellis/Getty Images)

It seems South Carolinans may have a “hunger” for comedian Stephen Colbert’s presidential bid. Either that or the Cain Train is gaining steam.

In Saturday’s primary roughly 6,324 South Carolina voters, about 1 percent, cast their ballot for former presidential candidate Herman Cain, the man Colbert dubbed his surrogate in the Palmetto state primary after the comedian failed to get his own name on the ballot.

That’s more than 30 times the number of votes Cain got in the Iowa Caucus and New Hampshire Primary combined and more than double the votes former GOP candidate Rick Perry, who dropped out of the race Thursday, received.

“Because Herman Cain and I are so similar, I think that if this Saturday Herman Cain were to get a significant number of votes that would be a sign that voters are hungry, hungry for a Stephen Colbert campaign,” Colbert said on his Comedy Central show Monday night. “Anybody who shares my values can show it by voting for Herman Cain.”

Cain seems to have no problem acting as the stand-in for Colbert’s satirical campaign.

“American needs to lighten up,” Cain said Friday in a speech at Colbert’s “The Rock Me Like a Herman Cain: South Cain-olina Primary Rally” at the College of Charleston.

Colbert’s flirtation with launching a presidential campaign has served to highlight new campaign finance laws — made possible by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision — that allow super PACs to raise unlimited amounts of money from undisclosed donors and spend that money to support or oppose political candidates.

“Tomorrow, Jan. 21, the two-year anniversary of Citizens United, you can thank the Supreme Court by going into the voting booth and voting for Herman Cain. Because, sadly, it is still illegal to vote with just pure cash,” Colbert said at Friday’s rally.

Shortly before announcing his intention to explore a possible White House bid, Colbert transferred his super PAC, “Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow” to fellow comedian Jon Stewart. The PAC spent $7,600 to run four ads in South Carolina over that past week.