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Sharpton’s staying
Posted at: Friday, March 5, 2004, 01:39 AM
Contrary to an article in Thursday’s New York Times, the Rev. Al Sharpton isn’t contemplating dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, says the Rev. Devis Toon, national field director for Sharpton’s campaign.
The question, though, is why? Sharpton (below) hasn’t won a single primary of the 30 held so far and has only about two dozen delegates to his name, compared with John Kerry’s estimated 1,509.
Sharpton hopes to gather enough influence to play a role in the Democratic National Convention in July. But he missed one of his main chances Tuesday when he garnered only 6 percent of the vote in Georgia — third in the nation in African-American voting age population — and garnered only 8 percent in his home state of New York, the No. 1 state for African-American voting strength. He failed to get on the ballot in Louisiana, another state with a significant African-American population, which votes next week.
Georgia activist Joe Beasley, who endorsed Sharpton, blamed the candidate’s weak showing on “ignorance and apathy” among voters and late endorsements of Kerry and Sen. John Edwards by black elected officials.
“I was very disappointed to see black leadership going over to the Kerry and Edwards camps when the only one speaking to the issues was Sharpton,” Beasley said.
— Staff writer Matthew C. Quinn and wire services.
Permalink | Categories: Sharpton
Kerry’s roots
Posted at: Friday, March 5, 2004, 01:38 AM
That John Kerry, a Catholic, has Jewish roots on his father’s side has been widely known for a year. New on Thursday was confirmation by archivists at Jerusalem’s Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial that two of his relatives — his grandmother’s brother and sister — were victims of Nazi genocide.
Archivists said Otto Loewe died in the Theresienstadt ghetto in what was then Czechoslovakia, and Jenny Loewe vanished in the Treblinka death camp in Poland.
Kerry’s paternal grandfather emigrated to the United States from what is now the Czech Republic, changing his name to Kerry from Kohn. His grandmother, whose maiden name was Ida Loewe, also emigrated and converted from Judaism to Catholicism.
— Staff writer Matthew C. Quinn and wire services.
Curbing Edwards
Posted at: Friday, March 5, 2004, 01:37 AM
Now that the John Edwards presidential campaign is history, so are his Secret Service escorts and the code name they assigned their charge: “Speedway” — perhaps a sly comment on the politician from the land of NASCAR who downed up to a dozen Diet Cokes daily.
— Staff writer Matthew C. Quinn and wire services.
Permalink | Categories: Edwards
Ambassador Cleland?
Posted at: Friday, March 5, 2004, 01:36 AM
Everybody’s new favorite political pastime, it seems, is speculating about whom John Kerry will choose for his running mate. But Chuck Todd, editor of the National Journal’s Hotline Web site, has taken it a step further, envisioning a Kerry Cabinet. For one of Kerry’s stalwart friends, former Sen. Max Cleland of Georgia, Todd proposes the U.N. ambassadorship — a post that was occupied by another Georgian, Andrew Young, during President Jimmy Carter’s administration, when Cleland was head of the Veterans Administration.
“Cleland’s done the veterans gig before, and he didn’t necessarily make a lot of friends when he did it,” Todd wrote. “But he deserves something good from Kerry because he’s such a campaign workhorse.”
— Staff writer Matthew C. Quinn and wire services.
GOP rolls out the bus
Posted at: Wednesday, March 3, 2004, 11:42 PM
Republicans rolled out a big rig Wednesday for a road trip across America to help register 3 million new voters before the November election.
The 18-wheeler comes equipped with four plasma televisions, a lounge with a giant-screen TV, a sound stage, DVD players, satellite access and computer terminals that allow voters to register online and to join President Bush’s “Racing to Victory” re-election team. “Reggie the Registration Rig” will visit NASCAR races, college campuses, parades, sporting events, local festivals, churches and other public places in an eight-month tour between now and Nov. 2.
One of the early stops will be at the Atlanta Motor Speedway for the Golden Corral 500 race on March 14, said Ed Gillespie, chairman of the Republican National Committee.
“There are millions of unregistered Republicans all across America,” Gillespie said. He added Democrats could also register aboard the high-tech GOP truck and trailer.
“That’s a risk we’re willing to run,” Gillespie said. “When more Americans participate, that is good news for Republicans from the statehouse to the White House.”
Fast food. Fast votes. Fast tour.
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 03:06 PM
After showing up at an Atlanta polling station early Tuesday, Sen. John Edwards’ motorcade stopped at a McDonald’s before heading to the airport. A six-seater Hawk business jet whisked him to Washington, where Edwards took a break as presidential contender and returned to his job as U.S. senator from North Carolina.
With sirens howling and lights flashing, Edwards’ motorcade delivered him to his office in the Dirksen building. An hour later he was on the Senate floor for a vote on gun legislation. He chatted briefly with rival John Kerry but avoided reporters’ questions about the voting going on in 10 states Tuesday.
Then he was back in a car on his way back to the airport. Lunch was at Wendy’s in Alexandria, where Edwards’ chief of staff Miles Lackey dashed in for a few hamburgers. No word on whether they were singles or doubles; with or without cheese.
— Moni Basu, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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An Atlanta vote for Edwards
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 10:19 AM
Sen. John Edwards got in one last lick at campaigning for the Democratic
presidential nomination this morning when he visited a polling place in
southwest Atlanta.
Reporters and photographers outnumbered voters when the North Carolina
senator made a quick visit to the Quality Living Service Center, a senior
citizens’ center, just off Cascade Rd.
But he won at least one vote just by showing up.
Christel (cq) Jackson, 41, an actuarial analyst , said she had been
undecided when she arrived at the polling place with her 5-year-old son at 8
a.m.
But she was voting for Edwards. “He came to my community and that made it
personal for me,” she said, adding that she had also received a phone call
from a “live person” in the Edwards campaign seeking her vote.
—Matthew C. Quinn, Atlanta Journal-Constitution staff writer
Permalink | Categories: Edwards
Lord of the jobs
Posted at: Tuesday, March 2, 2004, 10:15 AM
Kerry, who stayed up late Sunday night watching the 11-Oscar sweep by “Lord of the Rings,” praised the movie’s director for creating thousands of jobs while filming J.R.R. Tolkien’s trilogy.
“Peter Jackson said that he used 25,000 extras in ‘Lord of the Rings,’” Kerry said at Ohio State on Monday, referring to the director’s comments during his Oscar acceptance speech. ‘‘Did you know that? He has created 25,000 more jobs than George Bush has, ladies and gentleman. We ought to give him more than an Oscar.”
Only thing is, most of those jobs were in Jackson’s native New Zealand where filming took place.
The director is also building a new movie production center in the capital of Wellington, which is sure to create many more jobs … for Kiwis.
— The Associated Press
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