The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

(Page 2 of 2)

Al Sharpton wants to run for president on the Democratic ticket. But in order to run, he needs money. And while he has a decent donor base in New York City, he's looking to expand that base a bit more. So it shouldn't have come as a big surprise that Sharpton paid his own way to Chicago this week to stand at the site where a mob stomped to death two men last week. Standing there with several area ministers, Sharpton explained his presence was about being even-handed. "If this had been a white mob, we would have all been there," said Sharpton. "The fact that it is a black mob makes it morally inexcusable for us not to be here as well. We must be against mob violence no matter what the color of the mob." /p>

Nowhere near Sharpton was Rev. Jesse Jackson, who happens to be a resident of Chicago. And therein lies the nub. "Al was here trying to poach money out of Jesse's hen house," says a Chicago-based Democratic political consultant. "So he spent an hour at the mob site and the rest of the day meeting with Chicago donors to Jesse's projects and Jesse Junior. It was a ballsy move."

It's not as if those Jackson backers have anywhere else to put their money. Jackson the elder has no plans and no chance of running for president again. And his son, while interested in pursuing higher office, is setting his sights on the Senate seat now occupied by Republican Peter Fitzgerald.

"If these people want to see an African-American run [for president], the guy who probably is going to do it is Sharpton. So support him. That was the message," says the Democratic operative.

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