Reverend Al Sharpton has made himself a candidate for the democratic nomination for president of the United States. The Reverend has approximately 5% of the democratic vote behind in going into primaries, and has raised about 114,000 dollars for campaign money, which is not even a 10th of the next lowest contender, Bob Graham, who has raised 1.2 million in campaign money. Sharpton is the only black contender for democratic nomination, and therefore begs the question, is race an issue in his bid for democratic nomination, and would it be an issue in a presidential election?
The answer to both questions is a decided yes. Sharpton's appeal has been mostly towards the black vote, with cries of 'time for equality' and 'racial change' being his rallying mottos. The issue here is that neither of these mottos strikes home to the bulk voting populace of whites or even Hispanics who make up the electorate.
Al Sharpton
American political activist, Reverend Al Sharpton.
English: Reverend Al Sharpton at 5W Public Relatio...Indeed, Sharpton's appeal to white voters is the lowest out of all of the democratic contenders. Lower even then Dennis Kucinich, a contender with only 3% of the vote overall. Sharpton's lack of popularity with white voters stems from his stress on racial ideas, rather then any balance of issues in his campaign. Also, Sharpton ranks third overall with Hispanic voters, the place where he ought to be finding additional support. But because of Sharpton's extremely narrow message base, namely black voters concerned purely with race issues, his campaign has not hit Hispanics either.
On fund-raising, Sharpton has been operating mostly through donation, which inherently hurts his chances. But additionally, because a large majority of his supporters are from depressed areas, his fund-raising efforts are taxing places that have no real ability to be taxed for political funds. Basically, Sharpton is trying to...