Sharpton's last laugh

[T_i_B]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/story.jsp?story=495960

Among the small crowd buying takeaway dinners of collard greens and shrimp salad at the restaurant called the Servants of God, Taste of Seafood, on Martin Luther King Boulevard in Harlem on Thursday night, reactions to the continuing and surely quixotic presidential run of the Rev Al Sharpton were barely encouraging.

"He's a joke," was the not-so-measured response of Ed Colson, 33, a paralegal assistant at UBS bank in New Jersey. "With him, everything is self-serving. It's all about getting himself on television." He is echoing the criticism of many that Mr Sharpton is more interested in showmanship than helping others. Behind the counter, Sheila McLoyd just shakes her head. "He's just not presidential material." Tanya Evans, 32, on her way home from her accounting job in midtown Manhattan, concedes that Mr Sharpton "says things others are afraid to say". But even she is not going to vote for him in New York's Democratic primary on Tuesday.

There are lots of reasons why you might reasonably assume Mr Sharpton should throw in the towel. He is a New York creature, and Harlem should be the epicentre of his support, yet polls show him winning only 5 per cent of the New York vote on Tuesday. He has yet to win a single state, although two weeks ago he managed second place in Washington DC, another heavily African-American town. On top of everything else, his chaotic campaign, with just one assistant in his Harlem headquarters, is almost bust. Filings show he had $1,030 in the bank at the end of January, some $500,000 in debts and campaign salaries that have not been paid since last May. Nor does it help that questions are being raised about the extravagance of his lifestyle on the campaign trail.

But it is enough for Mr Sharpton that he is still able to get his voice heard. The rules of campaigning mean, for example, that he and the other no-hoper in the race for the Democratic nomination, Congressman Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, can take their places at the regular candidates' debates alongside the frontrunner, Senator John Kerry, and his only serious rival, Senator John Edwards.

[bearfartinthewoods]

1. i have been a supporter of al's run...even financially but

i have to say that the revelations of his expenses have really pissed me off. i should have given DK the money i sent to al.