Stephen Colbert And Herman Cain Seem To Both Be Enjoying Their Unlikely Partnership

Thanks to South Carolina election law, Stephen Colbert — who polled at 5% among GOP candidates with likely voters last week — is unable to officially accrue any votes as a write-in candidate in the Palmetto state’s primary this Saturday. So Colbert hit on an unlikely strategy: tell people who support him to cast their vote for Herman Cain. And Cain, whose name remains on the ballot despite suspending his campaign in early December, is welcoming the effort with open arms:

“Mr. Cain does indeed find this entertaining,” Cain spokeswoman Kathy Hoestra told FoxNews.com. “In fact, Mr. Colbert is meeting up with Mr. Cain in South Carolina this Friday to record a segment for The Colbert Report.”

Hoekstra added that COlbert had gotten in touch with the Cain camp late last week. Cain even released a statement, saying that he finds Colbert’s push to resurrect his name on the ballot to be clever and humorous. “Anyone who finds what Mr. Colbert is doing offensive, should simply lighten up,” Cain’s statement read. “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.”

Will the strategy work? Maybe. Colbert has said that if enough people vote for Cain, he might consider upgrading his nascent exploratory committee to something a little larger. And with the Florida primary just 10 days after South Carolina’s, the GOP race could be in for at least a tiny boost of fun.

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