Last Friday, on the eve of his big victory over Mitt Romney in the South Carolina primary, Newt Gingrich had to cancel his first campaign stop of the day at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in Charleston, South Carolina.

Meanwhile, across town at the College of Charleston, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert held a rally to support Herman Cain. A huge crowd of 3,300 people attended. Colbert’s support for Cain was a complete farce. He was only there to mock Republicans generally and our campaign finance system specifically. But if Cain was at least a partial target for Colbert’s joke, why did he show up? Because when you are running for president for the publicity any attention is good attention.