2004 Ad

Jet, June 4, 2001

The Rev. Al Sharpton says he wants to explore a run for the U.S. presidency in 2004.

Sharpton says he will help organize a national effort to find a candidate to run in the Democratic presidential primary, "and I'm available to be that candidate."

Sharpton said, "The Democratic Party failed to protect us in the last election. They did not deal with the disenfranchised voters who were never counted in Florida. In many ways they took us for granted.... We cannot afford to be marginalized."

He noted the overwhelming support that Blacks demonstrated in last year's presidential election. "Given the silence the Democratic Party had on the voting rights in Florida, I do not see how we can in good conscience come out in record numbers again without a new strategy. And that strategy must include a new candidate. I would be willing to be that voice or support that voice. We've been the invisible people in the party, but we delivered the numbers and we should start getting some respect."

Noting the Rev. Jesse Jackson's run for the presidency in 1984 and 1988, Sharpton says, "Twenty years later, we need to do the same thing...."