Monday, May 19, 2003
Puerto Rico's Sharpton Caucus
Advocates of Puerto Rico statehood in 1998 argued, quite seriously, that a 51st state of Puerto Rico would be quite conservative -- the equivalent of Oklahoma. According to Roll Call, a newspaper that devotes itself to covering Capitol Hill, one of the leaders of the Puerto Rico statehood effort, Jose Serrano (D-NY), plans to endorse presidential candidate Al Sharpton:
The endorsement would make Serrano the first Member of Congress to back the fiery street preacher, who is one of nine Democrats to declare for the 2004 presidential nomination thus far.
Serrano cast his support for Sharpton, who has carved out a niche at the left end of the field, as a means of helping to ensure that the reverend remains viable through the primaries.
This, he hopes, will force the other contenders to fight for backing from liberals who represent the most committed segment of voters in the party.
"I want the Democrats to be Democrats," Serrano said of the presidential field. "Without Sharpton, they start to talk like Republicans."
Now we find out that a 51st state of Puerto Rico would mean a "Sharpton caucus" of at least seven new Representatives and two Senators in Congress.
|posted by Jim on 6:05 PM|
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