Obama supporters pressed officials to keep Colbert off ballot

[William769]

COLUMBIA, South Carolina (CNN) -- Two prominent supporters of Illinois Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign in South Carolina called state Democratic Party officials and urged them to keep funnyman Stephen Colbert's name off the primary ballot, according to party officials and Obama supporters.

The Obama campaign denied any connection to the phone calls.

"Democrats in South Carolina, including supporters of ours, had strong feelings on both sides of the ballot issue, and ultimately it was South Carolina Democrats who made this decision," said Obama's South Carolina communications director Kevin Griffis.

The South Carolina Democratic Party Executive Council voted last week 13-3 to block Colbert's bid for the Democratic primary.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/11/06/obama.colbert/index.html

[LisaM]

1. Well, if they did, good for them.

I am not a fan of fake campaigns. This election is way too serious for that.

[gateley]

2. I'm a Biden supporter and if I picked up the phone and called the Dem Party

to keep Colbert off the ballot, Biden shouldn't bear the blame. I don't think it's fair to the candidate to let supporters' actions cast a cloud on the candidate him/herself.

The way this article is written subtly indicates the official campaign was behind this, even though the disclaimer from the campaign is included.

I'm not saying I don't think the campaigns would engage in such smarmy tactics, just that we shouldn't automatically assume they are.