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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.
