Rev. Al Sharpton, a Democratic presidential candidate, has announced that he will begin a voter registration drive this summer, traveling the country with musicians and religious leaders. Sharpton is known for his campaigning in black churches and has said that the presidential campaign of Rev. Jesse Jackson provides a useful model for his bid at the Democratic nomination.
But it remains to be seen if Sharpton will hustle money in churches the way Jackson did. In 1988, Rev. Jesse Jackson not only campaigned in black churches in Chicago, he literally raised money in them. Will the same separation of church and state zealots who said nothing about this gross abuse of the First Amendment similarly remain silent now that Rev. Al Sharpton has announced he will tour with religious leaders in an effort to get people to register to vote? Sharpton, of course, will take his voter registration campaign directly into the churches.
In our statement to the press, we concluded with the following: “Imagine a white, pro-life Roman Catholic priest who is running for president taking his voter registration campaign into Catholic churches—with an entourage of priests in tow. Get it?”
