Stephen Colbert's Latest Lesson in Campaign

Last week, talk show host Stephen Colbert announced he was running in the GOP primary in South Carolina, and gave control of his very real Super PAC to fellow talk show host Jon Stewart.
Colbert then announced on his show Monday that he's unable to run as a candidate in South Carolina because the state does not allow write-ins in the primary. So he urged his supporters to instead vote for a surrogate candidate: Herman Cain. Why? Because though Cain is officially out of the race, his name remains on the ballot.


Tuesday, Stewart's pro-Colbert PAC released a commercial in South Carolina that urged voters to cast their ballot ... for Cain. None of this came as a shock to Cain, because the businessman is in on the joke.
"On Stephen Colbert’s endorsement of himself as Herman Cain, I find it very clever and humorous, as it should be," Cain told Fox411. "Anyone who finds what Mr. Colbert is doing offensive, should simply lighten up. To be perfectly clear, I will not be assuming Stephen Colbert's identity. We are very different when it comes to the color of our – hair."
Kathy Hoekstra, Cain’s Director of Media Relations, said they were given a heads up that something was happening a few days ago.
"Colbert’s people got in touch with us late last week and Mr. Cain will be taping a segment with Mr. Colbert on Friday in South Carolina,” Hoekstra laughed. “The endorsement of course comes as a pleasant surprise.


Public super PAC coordination On Jon Stewart's program, the issue of coordination was delved into even further, showing that legal super PAC coordination can go beyond simple one-way discussions. Stewart began the discussion by highlighting Mitt Romney's statements that super PACs can't coordinate in any way. “I’m not allowed to communicate with a super PAC in any way, shape or form," he said on MSNBC. "My goodness, if we coordinate in any way whatsoever we go to the big house."


Not true, however. To explain the legal loophole that allows coordination between super PACs and candidates, he brought on Colbert to discuss, as he put it, the" loop-chasm." "I can't tell you but I can tell everyone through television," Colbert said. Though the legal technicality that Colbert was explaining may not have been completely clear, he was referring to federal election law that states that coordination between candidates and super PACs is legal if it comes from a "publicly available source." In this case, that public source is television and he and Stewart talked to each other to great comedic effect:


The super PAC safety net Last of all, Stewart asked lawyer Trevor Potter what would happen if he ever had to pay a fine in the event where he actually did illegally coordinate with Colbert. As Potter notes, it could be in the "four to six figure" range. That was a terrifying prospect to Stewart until he realized he could just use super PAC money to pay the fine. Viola!