NPR: Will Clinton Get "Colbert Bump" Out of Brief Appearance?

Will Clinton Get "Colbert Bump" Out of Brief Appearance?

As Scott Kraus of the Allentown (PA) Morning Call says, if you blinked, you missed it. Last night Sen. Hillary Clinton made a brief live appearance on the set of the popular political satire show, The Colbert Report.

Clinton walked on to the opening of the show, taped before a live audience at the University of Pennsylvania, pretending to repair a technical problem and fix host Stephen Colbert's makeup before rushing off the set.

''You are so prepared for any situation,'' said a mock-stunned Colbert.

The New York senator replied: ''Call me anytime.''

''Really?'' Colbert asked.

''Sure,'' Clinton replied. Then she added: ''Call me at 3 a.m.,'' before rushing off to attend a block party in Northeast Philadelphia."

And she's wasn't the only one. Colbert also managed to get former presidential contender John Edwards and Clinton's rival Sen. Barack Obama (via satellite) on the same show.

But will any of them, Clinton in particular, get the coveted Colbert bump? (Recently the News Blog carried a story about a UCSD professor who did a little research and swears it exists - after a Democrat goes on the Comedy Central show, their approval ratings soar and they raise a lot more money.)

Maybe.

''It's a way to show you are a regular person, that you are not cold, that you are older but you are a little hip,'' said Chris Harper, associate professor of journalism at Temple University.

But Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania said it probably won't help much because most of the show's college-educated crowd have already made up their minds.

11:47 AM ET | 04-18-2008 | permalink

Comments

I thought the anti-media-distraction focus of the rest of the show was a win for Obama rather than Clinton, since Clinton has been seen as the purveyor of some of those distractions and has been defending Wednesday's debate. I don't know if he'll get a bump, but maybe all of US will get a bump away from flag pins.

I think Edwards, on the other hand, will get a bump from his performance, so if he ends up endorsing Clinton, then she might get a bump-once-removed.

Sent by Michelle | 12:09 PM ET | 04-18-2008

Hillary was totally scripted. The thing about appearing on Colbert is showing your fun side by fencing with him, not showing you'd make a good newsreader or robot by reading a script.

Sent by P. Shears | 1:29 PM ET | 04-18-2008

John Edwards' segment was hilarious! I'm so glad all three of them are human enough to go on the Colbert Report.

Best Quote of the Episode:
"Could God create a rock so heavy, He Himself could not tell youre a secret Muslim?"

Sent by Angela Vetri | 2:29 PM ET | 04-18-2008

I watched this video it was great. Thanks to whoever put it out there. Fox news could not show the interviewer's face due to embarassment. The interviewer should have been asked to go back home and read, so he could come next time for a much more intelligent conversation.

http://www.foxnews.com/video2/video08.html?videoId=1fd1...

Sent by Christy | 3:16 PM ET | 04-18-2008

Maybe they can both go head to head in tight spandex unitards on American Gladiators.

I have a feeling Hillary could take him.

Sent by deek | 4:03 PM ET | 04-18-2008

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