I can’t believe this all broke while I was busy with work and family, but Donna Brazile has pulled one of the most magnificently astute moves in politics I have ever seen.
Brazile has been looking to marginalize Al Sharpton in the primaries by recruiting local African-American candidates to run against him in primaries. By doing so, he would be reduced to the side show he should be, kept off prime time convention time, and African-American voters would be offered truly outstanding African-American candidates within the Democratic Party. It is my view that most African-American voters think that Sharpton’s views are too outlandish and he is morally suspect, but that in the absence of other strong black voices, they understand the appeal and even turn to him. It appears Donna Brazile agrees with me (ahem, I agree with Donna Brazile that is).
Additionally, Carol Moseley-Braun was looking at a Senate race in Illinois she couldn’t win. She is an astute political operative, something this writer does not often give her credit for when discussing her weaknesses. She passed up a chance to take on Daley probably out of the reality that being the gnat smashed to ground created severe challenges in later electoral contests. I assume the same level of astuteness saw the challenge of going up against some of the most connected people in the Illinois Democratic Party and then facing a self-financed wealthy incumbent was too much of a hurdle with the baggage she carries.
So Brazile recruited her to run for President of the United States. One might view someone with a checkered political past to be a bad thing for the Democratic Party, but I do not. She is quite appealing on first encounter. She has a broad smile that is infectious, a smart wit, and a charming personality. She is also ethically challenged, but clearly, she isn’t going to be the nominee. She also isn’t Al Sharpton and putting her up in front of the convention isn’t going to incite the same visceral reaction Sharpton does from non-black America.
It marginalizes Al Sharpton and tremendously improves the Democrats chance to take the Illinois Senate seat held by Fitzgerald. While there will be a good fight in in the Democratic Party, that fight is likely to look like a day at the beach compared to the Great Illinois Republican Civil War coming soon to a theater near you.