Stephen Colbert "campaigns" in South Carolina

CHARLESTON, S.C. (Reuters) - Television comedian Stephen Colbert took his political shtick down south on Friday, staging a mock campaign rally in South Carolina, the site of the next Republican presidential primary.

Colbert, who grew up in South Carolina, held a bogus rally on the grounds of the College of Charleston, and urged fans to vote for former Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain, who also spoke at the rally.

Cain suspended his campaign in December amid allegations of sexual harassment and infidelity, but he remains on the ballot for Saturday's South Carolina primary.

"Anybody who knows me knows that I have believed in the message of Herman Cain for several days now," the Charleston native told the crowd. "I would want you to vote for Herman Cain because Herman Cain is me."

Part of Colbert's fun makes a serious point about the growth of new Super PAC funding organizations that are spending huge amounts on attack ads on candidates. Political action committees, or PACs, are groups with great clout in U.S. politics that are legally separate from candidates. A Supreme Court ruling in 2010 allows corporations and unions to raise unlimited funds to buy ads that encourage or discourage the election of specific candidates.

"Faced with this tragic lack of corporate influence in our government, five courageous, unelected justices of the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the constitutional right to spend unlimited money in political speech," Colbert said.

He was backed by a gospel choir that occasionally chimed in, singing, "Corporations are people," a phrase made famous by Republican front-runner Mitt Romney.

A crowd, comprised mostly of college students, stood in line for up to four hours to get into the event. They held signs that said "Get on the Cain Train" and "Control the bear population" and included a couple of animal rights activists dressed in pig costumes.

"Stephen Colbert make politics more accessible. He makes things real," said Catherine Mueller, 18 of Dallas, Texas.

(Editing by Stacey Joyce)

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Author Stephen King offers left-leaning talk show (AP)

BANGOR, Maine – Stephen King is offering an antidote to what he sees as the biases of right-wing radio talk shows by hiring a former Green Party vice presidential candidate to co-host a morning talk show on two stations he owns.

In a rare public appearance, the horror writer held a news conference Tuesday in Bangor, Maine, at the headquarters of his three-station Zone Radio network.

"The Pulse Morning Show" will be co-hosted by 50-year-old Pat LaMarche and 43-year-old Don Cookson, a former television reporter. LaMarche ran for vice president as a member of the Green Party in 2004.

During the news conference King said, "We're a little to the left, but we're right."

The show will begin airing on WZON-AM and WZON-FM at 6 a.m. on Sept. 12.

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Stephen Colbert, Jack White cut a record together (AP)

NEW YORK – Stephen Colbert wants to climb the charts.

Colbert debuted his new Jack White-produced single, "Charlene II (I'm Over You)" on "The Colbert Report" Thursday night.

Colbert has featured White on "The Colbert Report" all week during his "rock odyssey" series, "Dr. Pepper Presents StePhest ColbChella `011 — Rock You Like a Thirst-Icane."

The former White Stripe and his Nashville-based record label, Third Man Records, produced the track. The Black Belles, a goth girl rock band on Third Man, performed backup.

The reference of the song is one only die-hard members of the Colbert Nation likely will grasp. It's a follow-up to his mock `80s new wave song, "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)."

Since 2006, Colbert has occasionally alluded to the song and suggested that before his conservative pundit character became a TV show host, he was the lead singer in a group called Stephen and the Colberts.

But the sequel, "Charlene II (I'm Over You)," is entering the real world. The song is to be available from iTunes and Third Man Records, including on vinyl copies. There's even a limited edition red-white-and-blue edition, with the vinyl dyed in the colors of the flag.

Colbert and White will be selling copies Friday in Manhattan from the Third Man Records' "rolling record store" — a truck that travels the country selling the label's music.

This is White's second collaboration with a late-night talk show host. Last year he released a live rockabilly album with Conan O'Brien.

Colbert has taken every chance to remind White that he's a Grammy winner. Colbert's "A Colbert Christmas" won the Grammy for best comedy album in 2010.

But this is far from the comedian's first foray into musical performance. Among his greatest hits are a performance of "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys, a "shred-off" with the Decemberists and a rendition of Rebecca Black's "Friday."

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Online:

http://www.colbernation.com

.

Yahoo! News

Stephen Colbert, Jack White cut a record together (AP)

NEW YORK – Stephen Colbert wants to climb the charts.

Colbert debuted his new Jack White-produced single, "Charlene II (I'm Over You)" on "The Colbert Report" Thursday night.

Colbert has featured White on "The Colbert Report" all week during his "rock odyssey" series, "Dr. Pepper Presents StePhest ColbChella `011 — Rock You Like a Thirst-Icane."

The former White Stripe and his Nashville-based record label, Third Man Records, produced the track. The Black Belles, a goth girl rock band on Third Man, performed backup.

The reference of the song is one only die-hard members of the Colbert Nation likely will grasp. It's a follow-up to his mock `80s new wave song, "Charlene (I'm Right Behind You)."

Since 2006, Colbert has occasionally alluded to the song and suggested that before his conservative pundit character became a TV show host, he was the lead singer in a group called Stephen and the Colberts.

But the sequel, "Charlene II (I'm Over You)," is entering the real world. The song is to be available from iTunes and Third Man Records, including on vinyl copies. There's even a limited edition red-white-and-blue edition, with the vinyl dyed in the colors of the flag.

Colbert and White will be selling copies Friday in Manhattan from the Third Man Records' "rolling record store" — a truck that travels the country selling the label's music.

This is White's second collaboration with a late-night talk show host. Last year he released a live rockabilly album with Conan O'Brien.

Colbert has taken every chance to remind White that he's a Grammy winner. Colbert's "A Colbert Christmas" won the Grammy for best comedy album in 2010.

But this is far from the comedian's first foray into musical performance. Among his greatest hits are a performance of "Empire State of Mind" with Alicia Keys, a "shred-off" with the Decemberists and a rendition of Rebecca Black's "Friday."

___

Online:

http://www.colbernation.com

.

Yahoo! News