PAC dares Colbert to tractor pull

A super PAC that’s become the target of satirical teasing by Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert is pushing back, challenging the late night television host to a tractor pull – no kidding, apparently – on Saturday at the site of the GOP straw poll in Ames, Iowa.

Jobs for Iowa, an independent group that paid $40,000 to air an ad touting Texas Gov. Rick Perry as a “ better option for president,” issued the challenge in a cheeky Friday afternoon news release that mocks the blow-hard conservative personae Colbert adopts on his nightly program, The Colbert Report – which he pronounces by dropping the ‘t’s at the end of both words.


“Mr. Colbert, the only thing in Iowa that can stake claim to a silent letter is Des Moines, so you need to take your ‘t’ back to France. It’s time to put up or shut up,” reads the release.

The move comes as another pro-Perry super PAC, Make Us Great Again, has emerged with the blessing of close Perry allies and appears poised to marginalize other outside groups competing for big donor cash to boost Perry’s presidential bid, which he plans to announce Saturday in South Carolina.

But a source familiar with Jobs for Iowa, which is believed to have been created at the behest of major donors who support Perry’s presidential ambitions, said no decisions had been made about the super PAC’s future. The source, who requested anonymity to talk about tentative plans, said the challenge to Colbert is legit and that the group has already arranged to have tractors at the ready if Colbert accepts.

Neither Colbert’s publicist nor his lawyer responded to messages Friday afternoon.

Colbert's running gag highlights what the comedian seems to view as the absurdities of campaign finance laws.

"A storm is gathering over Iowa, a money storm,” Colbert intoned in an ad aired Wednesday in Iowa. “Out-of-state groups like Grow PAC and Jobs for Iowa PAC are flooding the Iowa airwaves, telling you to vote Rick Perry at the Ames Straw Poll. They think they can buy your vote with their unlimited super PAC money. But Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow asks – what about our unlimited super PAC money?”

The ad urges viewers to write-in Rick Perry’s name at Saturday’s poll – for which Perry will not appear on the ballot – except, Colbert tells viewers in the ad “not their Rick Perry. Our Rick Parry. On August 13th, write in Rick Parry – that’s Parry with an A for America, with an A for Iowa.”

A follow-up ad aired Thursday by Americans for a Better Tomorrow, Tomorrow excerpted a clip from Jobs for Iowa’s ad featuring a farmer husking corn, asserting “outside groups like Jobs for Iowa super PAC are trying to pander to Iowans with pro-Perry ads featuring cheap cornography that your kids could see, just so you’ll vote for Rick Perry in the Ames straw poll.”

Jobs for Iowa’s Friday release proclaims: “Forget the airwaves. It’s time to settle this like the Iowans none of us are in the ultimate competition for super PAC dominance. An old-fashioned tractor pull … to be held August 13 at the Ames Fairgrounds.”

Read the full Jobs for Iowa statement.

This article tagged under: Stephen Colbert

Politics