Colbert 2013: Stephen's Big Sister Makes a Run

Elizabeth Colbert Busch faces Mark Sanford for Tim Scott's House seat
By Polly Davis Doig,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 17, 2013 8:03 AM CST
Colbert 2013: Stephen's Big Sister Makes a Run
Elizabeth Colbert Busch poses on a street in Charleston, SC, on Wednesday, February 13, 2013. The sister of Stephen Colbert is one of two Democrats seeking South Carolina's vacant 1st District seat.   (Bruce Smith)

The race to fill Tim Scott's South Carolina House seat is shaping up to be a doozy, and the AP profiles a most interesting longshot, one Elizabeth Colbert Busch—also known as "Lulu" and the older sister of Stephen Colbert. Colbert Busch says she's not worried about being overshadowed by her famous sibling—one of 11 children in the family—saying she's "proud of what he is." For his part, Colbert says he's backing her, but privately. "Lulu has a job to do, and that's run for Congress," he says. "I have a job to do and that's to make jokes." The only way she gets a mention on the show, he says, is if she goofs up.

For all her name recognition, Colbert Busch is far from a shoo-in in the red-leaning district: She faces one fellow Democrat, a perennial candidate, and 16 Republicans. They include former Gov. Mark Sanford and Teddy Turner, son of the media titan. Colbert Busch herself is something of a blue-collar success story, having worked her way through school as a divorced mom to her current position overseeing Clemson University's wind turbine program. "How did I get here?" she asks. "The community told me I could do it. They took me and pushed me all the way through and I want to give that back." Running for office, she says, "is a privilege. My gut says you're never going to get this opportunity again. And you don't want to turn around as an old woman and say I didn't try." (More Stephen Colbert stories.)

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