Stephen Colbert is not the next senator from South Carolina...but a black man is.

Which outcome would have been more surprising to you?  South Carolina governor Nikki Haley nominating television personality Stephen Colbert to replace the outgoing tea-party Republican Jim DeMint, or South Carolina sending a black senator to Washington?

Some of you might think I'm overly obsessed with race by writing that question, but Tim Scott becomes the first, the first, black senator from the South since the late 1800s.  Yes, the 1800s, that is not a typo.

Mr. Scott also becomes only the seventh black senator ever--and one of a total of five who have taken office in the last 50 years.  For more on the appointment of Mr. Scott, you can check out the story here.  Or on Mr. Colbert's run here here.