Sharpton stumps for D.C. primary

The Rev. Al Sharpton yesterday said that regardless of whether he wins the Democratic presidential nomination, the goals of his campaign are to make a positive influence on black culture and values and to reform the Democratic Party.

Mr. Sharpton told The Washington Times yesterday that he has been surprised by the warm reception he has received from people across America.

“I think in many ways people, because the response has been so positive, that people think it is a strategy,” he said. “But I’m just being me, and I have been cheered and some have said I am winning debates. And I’m talking about it in Iowa and New Hampshire and eastern Tennessee.”

He reminded a group of Anacostia High School students in a speech yesterday that black culture is not one of drugs, guns and crime but one of empowerment against insurmountable odds — just as he has said in numerous speeches in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.

“Whether I win or lose the presidency, only time will tell. But it will be worth it if one black child or one person sees me and says to themselves ’I don’t have to be a thug or hoodlum, I can be president of the United States,’” Mr. Sharpton said.

The ordained Pentecostal minister is campaigning in the city in preparation for the District’s nonbinding Jan. 13 primary, which he said many of his competitors, including front-runner Howard Dean, have ignored.

The Tuesday ballot includes Mr. Sharpton, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich of Ohio, and former Illinois Sen. Carol Moseley Braun, all three of whom will participate in a debate today on WTOP’s “Political Hour With Mark Plotkin.”

Mr. Dean also is on the ballot but has chosen not to participate in the radio debate.

Mr. Sharpton said the Democratic candidates “who claim to support D.C. voting rights” seem to have no intention fighting for them based on their actions.

Five of the nine major presidential candidates — Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts, Joe Lieberman of Connecticut and John Edwards of North Carolina, plus Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri and Wesley Clark — asked to be left off the ballot, not wanting to break tradition and be shunned by the Democratic National Committee, which requires that New Hampshire hold the first primary.

Mr. Sharpton said forcing the Democratic Party to accept the black community as its strongest and most consistent voting bloc was one of his primary goals when he first entered the 2004 presidential race.

He also said he wants to remind the Democratic Party of its core values, saying that too many lawmakers are voting like Republicans while posing as Democrats.

“We have far too many elephants walking around with donkey jackets on,” Mr. Sharpton said.

He said he wants more than just a speaking role at the national convention — he wants a seat at the table to set the party’s policy, goals and agenda.

“I would not be running around this country risking life and limb … to make another speech at the DNC. When I say we need a seat at the table, I am looking to influence platform and direction and force the inclusion of people.”

Mr. Sharpton’s Web site names four principal issues for his candidacy: statehood for the District of Columbia and constitutional amendments granting rights to education, health care and voting.

He has not emphasized issues such as foreign policy, national security and terrorism, the environment, energy consumption and production, and taxes.

The 49-year-old Mr. Sharpton, who has been preaching since he was five, is viewed by much of the American public as a brazen, racially polarizing rabble-rouser, citing his role in the Tawana Brawley case, in which he defended a teen who claimed a New York public official had raped her. The charge was dismissed and led to a successful slander suit against Mr. Sharpton.

But his campaign has not floundered, as some observers had predicted, and he has made the District’s primary competitive against an opponent who has millions of dollars in his campaign fund.

He also is leading the polls in South Carolina, where blacks constitute half the Democratic primary vote.

Mr. Sharpton yesterday displayed his quick wit, which has provided much of the spark in the series of debates among the Democratic primary rivals, in introducing a radio advertisement that will run on five Washington-area radio stations.

Asked at a news conference how much was spent on the ad, Mr. Sharpton said it was significant for a campaign that has raised little money.

“It’s like the conversation between the chicken and the pig over a ham-and-egg sandwich,” he said. “The chicken made a contribution. The pig dropped a leg. I dropped a leg in Washington, D.C.”