COLUMBIA, S.C. - Comedian Stephen Colbert's fanciful White House bid took a real step Thursday.

It's up to South Carolina Democrats to decide whether to take him seriously.

Colbert, who poses as a conservative talk show host on the Comedy Central cable network, filed to get on the ballot as a Democratic candidate in his native South Carolina. His campaign paid a $2,500 filing fee just before the noon deadline, said state Democratic Party Chairwoman Carol Fowler.

Whether he'll appear on the ballot will be decided by party officials later Thursday.

The host of "The Colbert Report" doesn't appear to meet the party's viable candidate qualification. And it's unclear if he would meet the requirement that candidates actively campaign in the state.

Colbert did appear Sunday at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, telling several hundred fans he would, if elected, "crush the state of Georgia." He also received a key to the capital city and the mayor declared him South Carolina's "favorite son."

When Colbert announced his candidacy on his show last month, he said he would run only in this key primary state. He said then he planned to run as a Democrat and a Republican — so he could lose twice.

The GOP filing fee is $35,000; the deadline was Thursday afternoon.

Just got caught up, really caught up on the news and if what I'm hearing is true (please let this be the usual Wolf Blitzer over-exaggeration), this could be as devastating as Katrina. The film and video coming across the net is harrowing and Southern California really does look like Hell.

Fingers, toes and whatever else I can cross for you guys out there. Please stay safe. And thanks for the updates to your journals. Keep them coming.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - There's no sign of a family reunion planned, but U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama are distant cousins.

So says the vice president's wife, Lynne Cheney, who said she discovered that her husband of 43 years is eighth cousins with the senator from Illinois.

The two men could hardly be more different. Cheney is an advocate for pursuing the war in Iraq to try to stabilize the country, while Obama wants to get U.S. troops out of Iraq.

Mrs. Cheney told MSNBC on Tuesday that it was "an amazing American story that one ancestor ... could be responsible down the family line for lives that have taken such different and varied paths."

The common ancestor was Mareen Devall, who the Chicago Sun-Times said was a 17th century immigrant from France.

Mrs. Cheney said she discovered the link through family research for her new book, "Blue Skies, No Fences," about growing up in Wyoming.

Did anyone get the "Harvard of the South" joke between Colbert's character and Homer?

"Don't ask me! I went to the Harvard of the South."
"Duke?"
"No."
"Vanderbilt?"
"No. Don't make me say it..."

Huh? Say what, Colbert?! Say what?

So I defend my thesis in 6 hours and I'm nervous as hell. Wish me luck!

So I defend my thesis in a week and half. And I'm scared and excited and nervous and so ready.

One hour to explain why I spent the last two years of my life writing poetry. One hour to defend how the pages add up to something coherent and significant.

Ah. And the poems are good. Or at least strong, I know this. It's the coherency? This I don't know about. The one comment I've gotten back from my committee so far is that the order isn't doing it justice. Too much vacillation between quiet contemplation and startling, jarring anger.

So tonight I'm reading. Sitting in my loft reading my BOOK and trying to pretend I didn't write it. Trying to figure out the order these fifty poems want to be in. Trying to figure out the reason they all exist how they do and where they do.

It's an odd thing to actually be in a moment you've dreamed of for so long. Wish me luck.

So this morning, I'm walking the dog and the neighbor's cat is out and there's a fluffy confrontation and before I know it, Maya's run and gotten ahold of the dessicated shark again!

She's a good dog, mostly, and drops it on command, but its tail gets hung up on her leash and it's dangling there like some freaky charm on a charm bracelet. So I'm out there in my pajamas with a dog and an angry cat trying to get away from freaky dessicated charm shark and I realize that I have no choice and have to touch the disgusting thing. And of course, it's rained now and it's not nearly as dessicated as it once was.

I've washed my hand five times... but I'm still worried it may rot off and turn into a dessicated shark itself.

Ah... adventures in a small town.

So I've decided to start blogging again. Whole new account in an old neighborhood.

Why?

Because it's the last day of my spring break and I really don't to read my student's crappy poems.
Because it's raining outside.
Because my dog dug up a 4 inch long dessicated shark in the yard today and it was the oddest thing I've seen in a long while.
Because said dog told me to. Just now. Before she farted.
Because I bought an antique Athena statue as a writing totem and she definitely wants me to.
Because I miss people that are on here.
Because I hate myspace.
Because I live in a town where people hang out the windows of pickup trucks and yell their fool heads off.
But mostly just because.

There are some things I can't abandon.

Heh. And I didn't realize it until now.