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The Morning Grind / DayAhead |
Sharpton on SNL, Dems in Disneyland
By John Mercurio
CNN Political Unit
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'SN-Al': The Reverend Al Sharpton hosts "Saturday Night Live" this weekend.
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Former Gov. Howard Dean is named in a lawsuit filed in Vermont seeking access to documents from his years in office.
CNN's Bruce Morton takes a look at the religion gap between candidates in the 2004 presidential election.
President Bush signed legislation that he said would help prevent 'sudden and needless destruction' from wildfires.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Bruce Babbitt endorses Howard Dean, while Bob Baines endorses John Kerry. Which B.B.'s backing matters more? Al Sharpton plays Johnnie Cochran and Jesse Jackson on "Saturday Night Live," while his rivals attend the Florida Democratic Convention in Orlando. Which performance matters more?
First, to Florida, where it's unclear what their appearance will do for '04 Dems, but it's already done wonders for the state party. Indeed, Florida Dems might lose a Senate seat next year, and they definitely won't be sending one of their own to the White House. But Bob Graham's political demise has opened up the state's presidential primary and, consequently, helped the party fill its empty coffers.
Graham's departure gave new life to Florida's cash-strapped Democrats, whose three-day convention in Orlando this weekend will draw every '04 Dem except Sharpton (more on his whereabouts below) and, perhaps more importantly, a boatload of their money.
"Florida is wide open," Florida Democratic Chairman Scott Maddox told the Grind yesterday. "With Bob Graham being in the race, virtually every one of the movers and shakers were committed to him. Now that he's out of the race, the race is wide open and the convention will basically be the kickoff for anyone of them who wants to compete here."
Dean was the first '04 Dem to pony up with a $50,000 check that specifically entitled him to blanket the Coronado Springs Resort with receptions, rallies, information tables and training seminars. When they got wind of Dean's largess, almost every other Democrat opened his or her wallet, leading to a major bonanza for Maddox.
Endorsements for Kerry, Dean
Next, to Manchester, New Hampshire, where sources say Kerry will appear at Central High School today to nab the endorsement of (drum roll, please ...) Mayor Bob Baines, the biggest Granite State Dem to join Kerry's campaign since Jeanne Shaheen became his national chairwoman this summer.
Baines, who incidentally ranks as No. 27 on PoliticsNH's list of 105 politicos who'll help decide who wins the '04 Dem primary, had held off backing a candidate until he won his re-election, which he recently did with 70 percent of the vote. Kerry aides note, as well, that Baines "famously" endorsed Al Gore in early January 2000, "when Gore was in a tough fight against Bill Bradley, and we know how that turned out ... "
For his part, Dean has won the backing of Babbitt, the former Arizona governor and interior secretary under Bill Clinton. Due to scheduling conflicts, however, aides say Dean won't appear with Babbitt to officially accept the endorsement until sometime later this month. Rumors of Babbitt's endorsement already sent one '04 rival's oppo-research machine roaring to life, spewing out, for example, a 2002 New York Times article in which Babbitt is criticized by actor/director Rob Reiner, an environmentalist and prominent Dean backer.
'SN-Al'
But the spectacle we're most eagerly anticipating this weekend is Sharpton's appearance on "Saturday Night Live," where we hear Sharpton will be playing Johnnie Cochran in a Michael Jackson skit. Sources told CNN's Kelly Wallace that he'll also play a "prominent African American," believed to be Jesse Jackson, in a parody of Chris Matthews' "Hardball." His monologue will be a comparison of the old Sharpton, played by former SNLer Tracy Morgan, and the new Sharpton, played by the Rev himself.
But wait, that's not all! He is also playing Brian Fellows' brother Ryan -- appearing on Morgan's talk show "Safari Planet." In yet another skit, he gets into a taxi and the driver asks if he has lost weight. "Keeping one step ahead of Howard Dean burns a lot of calories," Sharpton quips.
(See, there you have it. Now you don't have to stay awake 'til midnight on Saturday to watch the show ... or, ahem, we mean, of course, that now you can go out and party like a rock star).
As of last night, the Rev was playing down expectations for his performance. "I will tell you Sunday morning when it's over, that it might not have been a good thing, we'll see," he said.
California candidate?
And last but not least, California Republicans will learn today whether they've found a Schwarzenegger-esque candidate to run against another controversial two-term Democrat, Sen. Barbara Boxer. The best they're likely to get, however, is former California Secretary of State Bill Jones, who pulled candidacy papers Wednesday and announced late last night that he'll file at 1 p.m. EST in Fresno.
Jones may be an early front-runner. But it's doubtful he'll receive much support from the White House or Schwarzenegger, even though the new California governor received Jones's early support in the recall and offered to appoint Jones chief of staff once elected. Jones, you'll recall, publicly urged Republicans Bill Simon and Tom McClintock to withdraw from the race and back Schwarzenegger (Simon did, McClintock didn't). At one point, Jones even offered to let McClintock run for Senate instead, if he would drop his recall campaign.
Backing Jones would, however, put Bush and Schwarzenegger in the awkward position of favoring a white man over a Hispanic woman, Rosario Marin, a former U.S. treasurer who has already filed to run.
And then, of course, there's the small issue of Jones having backed John McCain in 2000. Ouch.
