Since Bill Clinton blew his sax for Arsenio Hall, presidential candidates have been using TV talk-show hosts. Now a TV personality is turning the tables. Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central says he’ll run in South Carolina’s primary – as a Democrat and a Republican.

This is no joke – to the candidates.

Colbert, who is from Charleston, could take 5 or 10 percent of the vote. And who could he hurt most? My guess is that John Edwards has the most to lose. He’s running third in the polls of the state where he was born. The typical Colbert voter might be one who casts a protest vote against the front-runners, Hillary and Obama. Or, if Colbert hurts everybody equally, Edwards loses the most.

Younger voters, especially, might enjoy the mischief of it.

But don’t rule out Colbert in the Republican primary. Some South Carolina Republicans may be dumb enough to believe that his faux-Bill O’Reilly shtick is for real.

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