Stephen Colbert ousted from presidential race, but Facebook fans won't give up

(Credit: Comedy Central)

Shortly after the nascent Stephen Colbert '08 presidential campaign filed to run on the Democratic ballot in South Carolina's primary, the state party voted on Thursday to kick the colorful comedian out of the race. According to the Associated Press, party officials met for approximately 40 minutes and then voted 13-3 to remove Colbert from the ballot.

Meanwhile, many members of the "1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T Colbert" group on Facebook, which currently hovers around 1,300,000 in membership, refuse to give up.

"I think it's stupid that they are trying to put a stop to his campaign because they believe it is just a ploy to further his comedy routine," one infuriated member of the Colbert Nation wrote on the message board for the "1,000,000 Strong" group. "From what I have seen he is probably the most realistic person running right now."

"You know what?" another asked. "If Arnold Schwarzenegger can be governor of California, then Stephen Colbert can certainly be president. What's wrong with these people?"

Others started posting telephone numbers for the state Democratic Party's office and began linking to offshoot groups to promote a Colbert write-in campaign.

Colbert, who hosts the Comedy Central program The Colbert Report, announced last month that he planned to run for president--but only in South Carolina as a "favorite son."

On a related note, Thursday was a sad day for purveyors of the green screen challenge everywhere: in addition to Colbert's rejection from the Democratic primary, indie-rock band and onetime Colbert foe The Decemberists canceled the remainder of their North American tour.