Obama Backers Sought to Block Colbert In SC

Top Obama supporters in South Carolina called up members of the deciding Democratic council to oppose Stephen Colbert's bid for a ballot berth, CNN reports. One voter said he felt “pressured” by the phone call from former US Senate nominee Inez Tenenbaum, who said Colbert's presence "wouldn't be fair." The Obama campaign denied any role in the phone calling.

The comic lost his bid last week by a vote of 13-3. Tenenbaum said “lobbying was too strong a word” for her appeals (numbering at least three) to councilmembers—and that she wanted to save her party Colbert's $20,000 entrance fee. A political scientist notes, though, that the funnyman could have swiped young voters from the Illinois senator. (More Stephen Colbert stories.)