Stephen Colbert fans know that Congressmen will appear on his Comedy Central show at their own political peril. Rep. Lynn A. Westmoreland (R-GA) for example, admitted to Colbert that he could only name three of the ten commandments and that he thought of himself as a "Georgia Peach." Not to be outdone, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-FL) said he liked cocaine and prostitutes because it’s the "fun thing to do."

But what might be a media consultant’s nightmare could turn out to be a fundraisers dream. This forthcoming paper by University of California at San Diego political scientist James H. Fowler in the journal PS: Politics and Political Science finds that Democratic Congressmen appearing on Colbert’s segment "Better Know A District" get a 44 percent bump in their fundraising after participating in his show. Fowler summarizes his study in this recent Los Angeles Times piece. Alas, Republicans, according to Fowler, show no similar "humiliation windfall."

HT: Monkey Cage