Are they going to vote a Silver tongued Devil from NYC or will they "get the rope!" ? I think he can "shuck and jive" his way to 3rd or 4th.
Sharpton Battles Electability Issue in S.C.
Big Test Is Ahead in State Where Black Voters May Make Up Half of Electorate
By Darryl Fears
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, January 22, 2004; Page A07
COLUMBIA, S.C. -- On a velvety Friday night, Roderick Scott drove his silver SUV up to a smoky little pub. "I want to be around the people," he said. It was clear that Scott meant black people.
As Al Sharpton's virtual one-man campaign staff in South Carolina, Scott has constantly sought out African Americans. Every day he rolls down miles of highway, visiting churches, community groups and other gathering spots. Twelve empty cans of cheap cola -- "my caffeine drip," he called them -- rattled around the SUV's floor. He said he had leased the heavier vehicle after driving two rental cars into the ground.
"People want to see you. They want to know you. They want to hear you. It's about individual contact in individual communities," said Scott, 33, who left his wife behind in San Francisco to represent Sharpton in South Carolina.
"When they see Al Sharpton, they know who he is, an outspoken community leader," Scott said. "They know he doesn't have any reluctance to talk about the things they want to talk about. I do this because I love it. I came here to win."
As South Carolina's Feb. 3 Democratic primary approaches, Sharpton and his representatives are trying to convince voters here that he has a shot at winning the nomination. But Sharpton is facing an electorate -- black voters included -- that is largely unfamiliar with him and doubts his electability.
Analysts who know black voters say South Carolina is Sharpton's proving ground. "He's got to do well," said Ronald Walters, a University of Maryland political science professor who teaches a course on black leadership.
South Carolina will hold the first primary this year in which African Americans are expected to cast ballots in large numbers; they could account for up to half of the vote. Jesse L. Jackson, Sharpton's estranged mentor, won the state when he ran for the Democratic nomination in 1984 and in 1988.
Walters helped in both Jackson campaigns. "If he falls on his face, it will be a signal to voters that Al Sharpton is not up to the task," he said.
A public poll in South Carolina early this month put Sharpton fourth -- behind first-place Howard Dean, and Sen. John Edwards (N.C.) and retired Army Gen. Wesley K. Clark, who were tied for second place, with 50 percent of the voters undecided.
While Sharpton did not have much competition in the largely symbolic D.C. primary, he showed that he could attract black votes. He won every predominantly black ward, and his campaign hailed this as a signal that he was on the move. Still, he finished second to Dean. And Sharpton was nowhere to be found when votes were counted in the Iowa caucuses Monday night or when voters were polled before New Hampshire's primary on Tuesday.
"I would expect him to get 10 percent to 15 percent of the vote in South Carolina," said David A. Bositis of the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, a black think tank. "That's not going to be enough for him to really receive any notice after South Carolina."
Sharpton was a child-prodigy preacher in New York City who became a civil rights leader under the influence of Adam Clayton Powell, the late congressman, and Jackson. He ran for mayor and for the U.S. Senate, but outside New York people still do not know him, Bositis said.
At TG's Club, the pub in Columbia, Scott met Johnnie McDuffie, a black car salesman. "I like Al Sharpton. I like what he says, and I think he's valuable," McDuffie said as he sipped a cocktail with friends. "But I don't vote race. I don't vote party. I don't believe Sharpton's going to win. I don't think Sharpton believes he's going to win. He knows he's here to agitate in the system."
McDuffie's sentiment was echoed in the community of Greenview in Columbia, where streets around the Reid Chapel AME church are named for biblical figures.
"I'm not going to vote for him," said Mike Ellison, 54, a biotechnical hospital worker who attends the church. "I don't think he'll win. He's going to black churches, but what has he done to go get other votes? I've talked to a lot of people, and they feel the same way."
Sharpton has campaigned in South Carolina as much as any candidate in the field, including Edwards, who was born there, and Clark, another southerner. But he has preached largely to black audiences.
This Sunday, he preached at Reid Chapel, New Ebenezer Baptist Church in Florence and High Hill Baptist Church in Sumter before attending a town hall meeting at Jerusalem Baptist Center in Hartsville, S.C. The next day, he spoke on the steps of the state Capitol during a Martin Luther King Jr. holiday rally attended mostly by African Americans.
In South Carolina, African Americans need a strong voice, said Freddie Jacobs, 33, an engineer. They make up 30 percent of the state's population of 4 million, the third-largest proportion among states. And they rank highest in such statistical categories as unemployment, prostate cancer, infant mortality, poverty and proportion of residents living without health care. In Williamsburg County, where black residents are a majority, the jobless rate surpassed 17 percent.
Jacobs said he likes Sharpton because he forces the other candidates to talk about issues of particular interest to black voters, such as jobs and war. "He's going to make those other guys say what they need to say," Jacobs said.
In polls, Sharpton gets high marks for his stance against the Iraq war. Black women in particular tend to be antiwar, and Nu Wexler, executive director of the state Democratic Party, took note when Sharpton preached one Sunday about three soldiers who had gone to Orangeburg-Wilkinson High School and had been killed in Iraq. "It hit home," Wexler said, "and personalized it."
Sharpton's message about the economy has also resonated in the state, which over the past three years has lost about 45,000 manufacturing jobs, according to state records.
"We've met people in these communities who are single mothers who can't afford child care, and they work for more than 40 hours a week in nonunion jobs," Sharpton campaigner Scott said. "We have met seniors who can't afford to get sick and stay away from work, and can't afford the medicine that keeps them from getting sick.
"Al Sharpton talks to people, gets them involved, gives them hope," Scott said. "We come across them every day. These people aren't stimulated by the other candidates."
Some political observers say Sharpton is only trying to raise his standing within the party, as opposed to winning the nomination. But on CNN's "Crossfire" earlier this month, Sharpton said his ambitions were higher.
"I'm not running for a speaker's spot" at the Democratic convention, he said. "I'm doing this because we need to talk about . . . how we lost 70,000 jobs in South Carolina." He said that if he does not win the nomination, "I will continue to fight for things in the party. I will continue to mobilize. Right now, I'm continuing to run for the nomination and build a mobilized force in the party for those who are marginalized."
That has been Jackson's role in the party, and some say Sharpton is trying to usurp him. Walters said that Sharpton is a talented orator -- "He reminds me of Jesse," Walters said -- but that he cannot match Jackson's name recognition and has not matched his grass-roots fundraising zeal.
Still, Sharpton is working hard here. He has visited every county and city where black voters are concentrated. He tells them he cares.
"Reverend Sharpton has been here when there was community strife," Scott said. "He's come here and talked about the Confederate flag. You have to know that if he was here when he wasn't running, he'll be here afterward."
Freddie Priester, a member of the usher board at Reid Chapel, said he will embrace Sharpton. But will he vote for him? "No," said Priester, 52, "I don't think he's winnable, and I want to do everything to get rid of that George Bush."
© 2004 The Washington Post Company |
