The Trail: A Daily Diary of Campaign 2008

After watching the Democratic debate clearly Edwards and Obama answered the questions with the most objectiveity and clarity. Hillery Clinton sidesteped most of the questions and attacked and tried to divide Edwards and Obama without success. This made her look weak. Senator Richardson gave me the impression of a person who implys we all need to join hands and sing Kum ba Ya. Clearly Senator Edwards and Obama won the debate.

If you want a clear indication of how seriously college students are taking Colbert's run, consider this: Every four years, Westminster College in New Wilmington, PA, holds a mock convention for the party currently out of power. At this year's mock Democratic convention, on November 8, 2007, students at Westminster College selected Stephen Colbert for the office of Vice President. John Edwards was nominated for the Presidency. As far as Presidential candidates were concerned, students were only given a choice of either Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, or John Edwards. In past years, students were allowed to select from all candidates running for president from the party out of power; this year, the field was narrowed, otherwise, I can almost guarantee that Stephen would have been nominated for the Presidency.

Just thought I'd update- the group surpassed 1.4 million today! Too bad he didn't make the ballot...

Good news! Stephen Colbert mentioned the group on his show yesterday! Wanna see?

http://www.ifilm.com/episode/18037?startsWith=2907750

2:08-2:45

I do see a downside to the (unlikely) event of Stephen Colbert winning a presidential election: No more Colbert Report! Another sad truth in our society is that our fake news shows on Comedy Central have more honesty (truthiness?) than their "real" counterparts. Colbert and Jon Stewart, in their comedic ways, are far more serious journalists than the clowns on CNN, Fox, and other major networks. So, laugh when the truth hurts and watch out for the bears. And vote Colbert '08. :)

1,033,405 members and still growing... Even if this group itself doesn't change much in the election (which seems highly unlikely at this point), the buzz alone generated by it's incredible growth is sure to turn heads and garner some attention for Mr. Colbert and his views.

It hit 1,000,000 members!
Insane!

The group is now well over a million and still growing...

1,011,844 members as of 9:56 on 10-26-07

Many of us stayed up all night to watch the madness. At one point the screen was refreshed 1.5 million times in a 3 hour period-
the wall posts were really what amazed me. I was actually sent 2 warning notices by Facebook for "spamming" after HOURS of posting... posts stayed on the page 30 seconds max- I just couldn't get over the rates at which people were joining, & after being sucked in I had to see it happen for myself. The SCREEN SHOTS are hilarious. For those who know what i'm talkin bout-
Skeet skeet!!

reaching 1,000,000...
-we broke our F5 key
-we learned we also hated Canada, aka "America's Hat"
-POKING has got to stop
-"Brazil" is hot
-pink polos SO are not cool
-we had nothing better to do tonight

TRUTHINESS AND JUSTICE FOR ALL
Colbert 08

As of 6:56 Am EST there are 1,001,035 members in the group.
Also, I"m tired of people saying that high school students can't vote.
I turned 18 two weeks ago. I can vote in December and I can also vote next November.
Many of my friends are 18 as well. Just because we are in high school doesn't mean we can't vote.
Second, yes, there may be a lot of high schoolers that can not vote but still joined this group. All it takes is for someone to tell another person and eventually the word gets around. They may even convince thier parents, teachers, employers or any other adult to vote for Colbert. It really doesnt matter what age you are.

As of 5:58 am EST, there are 1,000,131 members of the group

Francine, Halifax, NS

990,489 members as of 1:42am ET (Oct. 26)

950,000 Members at 9:11 PM (EST) 10/25/2007

I'd like to see him win more then any of the "real" candidates, our generation wants change, maybe it's time we let a comedian do a politicians job, there almost the same thing aren't they?

958,177 at 9:00 PM CDT
958,679 at 9:02 PM
959,095 at 9:04 PM
I'd say it's growing pretty quickly. We're almost there!!

Even if it is a bunch of high school students or college kids who may not vote, I'm pleased they are taking an interest, even in a "fake" candidate. Maybe this is the beginnings of awakening from the apathy that has allowed our government to become the disaster it is. This Facebook group does not prove what is wrong with our country (the current administration is doing a fine job of that), this group proves what is right about it. This is a way for ordinary citizens to let the political establishment know we want real change. So what if Colbert can't win, wouldn't accept the election, or whatever? It's not the point. Maybe it will give a few politicians pause. When I cast a vote for a liberal-leaning president or congressman here in Oklahoma it's basically a waste of time; my views are not represented in Washington (so much for protection from the tyranny of the majority). It's a sad fact that Facebook might be one of the few places I can affect a small amount of change.

@ralphd

your mother

We're at 920,000 right now, just 80,000 more people to go! It will probably be tonight or early tomorrow.

@alain,

If you look at the breakdown of the group, I'm willing to bet that there's a lot of people in the group that aren't of legal age to vote so his support on Facebook is not likely to reflect any sort of election-day support. He even said himself that he would be happy if he got even one delegate in the primary.

It's a sad commentary on your nation's political process that hundreds of thousands of people join the "campaign" of a fake candidate, yet many of those same people are unlikely to get out and vote for the real candidates.

What are they saying by not voting? They're saying the real candidates aren't worth voting for because they don't listen to the American people.

They're saying the real candidates are more concerned about money and power than they are about actually helping the American people.

Your country has so many big problems to tackle in the next few years and it's sad that none of them will do it, no matter who is elected.

Don't be surprised if Colbert hits 25,000,000.

FYI, as of 8:37 AM October 25, 2007...there are currently 855,8000 members. I joined about 10 minutes ago and it was around 854,000...

at 1:19 est 839,611 members a gain of in 2 hours 17,658, about 5 people per second

As of 8:19 pm PST, 821,953 members and growing at a rate of 3 per second!

The group now has more than 800,000 members at 9:42 p.m. on 10/24!

Its not uncommon for groups or applications on facebook to fail. It happens often with the Fantasy Stock Exchange (FSX) application.

Over 750,000 members

751,449 @ 5:38pm est

3/4 of the way there, it'll be a matter of days

5:00 p.m. 744,706

Wednesday 10/24/07

4:28 p.m. - 738,752
4:30 p.m. - 739,227
4:37 p.m. - 740,607
4:45 p.m. - 741,991
4:49 p.m. - 742,692
4:53 p.m. - 743,356
4:56 p.m. - 743,834

I invited 599 of my friends on Facebook.

3:36 PM, and 730,000 members. This is amazing!

I'm from Canada and just joined this group.

3:02 ET: 725,360 members
3:11 ET: 726,028 members

668 new members in 9 minutes - impressive!

So, Facebook regularly has to take the group down because people are joining at the rate of 20 per second. College students on Facebook really are a force to be reckon with.

In response to ryang3: I am a freshman in college this year. Last year I was a Senior in high school. AND I VOTED in the Senator elections in November of 2006! High schoolers do have a say in what goes on in the government. Just wanted to point it out to you that many high school seniors are legally able to and do vote; espeically when they get extra credit from their government classes.

Apparently there are a few people online right now, because there are almost 1,000 new members in just the few minutes I've been watching it. As of 12:00 est the count is 702,863.

This is NOT just a U.S. issue.

I, a Canuck who lived in the U.S. for seven years, plead that the Colbert group be ***WORLDWIDE.*** Huge numbers from diverse nations might wake the U.S. to the audacity that is Dubya.

Yes, he IS dangerous and yes, the whole world IS watching.

9-11 has been questioned by airline pilots, physicists, military experts--and anyone with an elementary school grasp of science.

Citizens worldwide now have a chance to affirm that **the emperor is not naked, he's armed and dangerous.**

This amusing prank could just turn into something like a tipping point.

677,461 members

As of 12:32 eastern time there are over 663,000 members in the group. Whether or not Colbert runs/wins/affects this race is pointless. College students are letting the politicians know that they can be a force to be reckoned with.

As of 12:00 AM on Wednesday, October 24, the group is just over 657,400 members. Keep in mind that not all group members have to be American, myself, I'm a Canadian, but a huge Colbert fan. There can be no doubt however, that even if this doesn't affect the election results, politicians will be forced to take notice of the fact that Colbert has a massive following, made up of primarily of young people that aren't impressed with the job that they've been doing. It's time to listen to the youth of the world!

Over 2,000 more members in the last 6 minutes.

And in response to an earlier comment, PLENTY of high school students are/will be 18 and able to vote by the 2008 elections. As American citizens, we should not only be happy that they are familiarizing themselves with the issues and candidates now - we could also stand to let their sense of initiative inspire us to do the same.

I would just like to say that in the last 20 minutes, the group gained FOUR THOUSAND more members!

610,903 members as of 8:51 pm. EST

As of 8:18 PM EST, there are:

602,877 members

571,686 @ 10/23/07 5:51 EST

growing at an average rate of 3+ members per second

556,273 members

@10/23/07 4:33 EST

If I could call your attention to the original title of the group:

"1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T. Colbert"

The group that was started had a "." after the "T" and now the group that was put back up is missing the "."

My group has the original title. Shalom!

506,733 members as of RIGHT NOW! Go Colbert!!!

The group is not deleted. You should get your facts straight before posting nonsense. Since last night Facebooks been having technical issues with the group due to the overwhelming response of people refreshing the page to see the member count go up, and generally, just from people joining all at once. It'll be back up in a few hours. This did happen last night and it came back within 3-4 hours.

The URL is:

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=5581204341

Raj Vachhani deleted the group, but I just restored it so everyone can re-join.

The group appears to have been deleted. It's even been removed my 'my groups'. At last count it was approaching 500 000. I hope it's just another technical difficulty, but it didn't delete it from my profile last time.

As a college student, doing an essay on the canidates, I obviously choose Colbert, and can't believe how many members on in the facebook group. I've invited everyone on my friends list. And as of 11:50a.m. est membership is at 496,962.

Seriously - I was a little worried that my free speech was being repressed when the group disappeared. Glad to hear it was otherwise.

Oh, and we're up to 442,067 as of 10:58 a.m. and no sign of slowing down!

MR. Facebook staffer: Thanks for posting that here- I had no idea what had happened to it! D: Please work hard in getting it back up. :)

I work at Facebook.

As of 6pm PDT, the group is temporarily unavailable due to technical issues related to how fast the group has grown. The group should be back online within a few hours.

Is the group closed or shut down? It's no longer up on facebook.

the group overtook baracks group, and also took down a few servers because so many people were refreshing at the same time

370,305 --will beat barack within an hour!

331,089

319,842 @ 10:45 EST 10/20/07

298, 040 members at 7:24 EST

291,190 members as of 5:21 PM central.

As of 1:11 pm on Sat there are 257,396 people in the group.

From 1:10 - 1:11 pm
257080 -> 257,396 people
316 joined in ONE MINUTE

218,014 at 12:25, over 1000 people in 10 mins crazy

216,965 as of 12:15

also, keep in mind that the election is over a year away, and by then, many high school students will be well into their voting age.

Also in response to Ryang3: Facebook is compose almost entirely of COLLEGE students, and last time I checked, COLLEGE students could vote. You should probably get up on your intartubez knowledge.

210,079

The group now has over 200,000 members. It will beat Obama within a week.

In response to Ryang3, dumbfounded? Does it even matter that we, high school students, cannot vote? We have a voice and an opinion. It's just the matter of fact whether we seize the opportunity to use it or not.

I just clocked the amount of people who joined in 5 minutes. 623 people joined in 5 minutes.(144,242 -144,865 between 1:45pm 1:50pm) THats impressive. well over 100 people a minute. More then a person a second. IN case you were wondering if this would have an effect on the election...it is.

For those people actually trying to find the group it is here: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=7406420086&ref=mf

ryang3 - Welcome to the internet.

I am dumbfounded that a High School Student that probably wont even be able to vote in the 08 election started a facebook group and convinced 100,000 people and counting to at least ponder Colbert's "bid" for election. I know this looks like a popular movie that came out last year, but even 100,000 people writing in anyones name is food for thought

We're actually over 100,000 now... 100696 @ 1258.

As of 9:28 Central Standard time I would like to note that the facebook group mentioned (1,000,000 Strong for Stephen T. Colbert), is at 94,299 and climbing at a rate of 10-14 users joining per second.

I would also like to note that Facebook has a ton of anti-boting code in there backend to ensure no automated adding to groups.

This is amazing.

The name may have since been changed, but the group is "1,000,000 Strong For Stephen T Colbert" not Stepen L. Also it's possible to restrict privacy settings on facebook so that the people you aren't facebook friends with cannot see your profile picture -- so that's not curious at all.

The group currently has over 70,000 members!!