[00:02.92]What a pleasure it is to be here hosting Saturday Night Live,"

[00:07.31]"For me it's a wonderful opportunity to reach out to a broader audience.

[00:11.88]Maybe tonight, people can finally get to know the real Al Sharpton,

[00:16.16]President Al Sharpton."

[00:17.57]The Reverend Al Sharpton does not mind poking fun at himself.

[00:21.89]He knows his chance of winning the presidency in 2004 is slim.

[00:26.39]After making three failed bids for elected office

[00:29.88]- once for mayor of New York City and twice for a Senate seat

[00:33.37]- Al Sharpton is embarking on his first campaign for president with a clear message:

[00:38.38]He says he'll be the one who stands up for minorities,

[00:41.36]the one who speaks out against Republican George W. Bush and the political machine.

[00:46.44]In a recent debate, he brought up the injustice suffered by some

[00:50.54]blacks whose votes were not counted during the 2000 Florida election,

[00:54.86]and criticized Al Gore's endorsement of Democratic rival Howard Dean as "bossism."

[01:00.44]"We waited four years - after some of were disenfranchised,

[01:04.40]after some of us in Duvall county couldn't vote - so we could express ourselves,

[01:08.40]and we're not going to have any big name come in now

[01:11.28]and tell us the field should be limited and we can't be heard," he said.

[01:14.77]"The Republicans ... the Republicans shut us up four years ago,

[01:21.50]Al Gore, no Democrat is going to shut us up today.

[01:24.31]Let the people decide on the nominee.

[01:27.30]Bossism shouldn't happen.

[01:28.99]I know Governor Dean and Al Gore love the Internet

[01:31.76]- [url=http://www.bossism[.com/]www.bossism[.com[/url]] doesn't work on my computer."

[01:35.36]If there's one thing about Al Sharpton that most can agree on,

[01:39.83]it's that he is an expert at stirring up emotion.

[01:41.58]The controversial black leader gained notoriety in 1987

[01:45.54]when he came to the defense of a black teenager named Tawana Brawley,

[01:49.43]who claimed she was raped by several white men

[01:52.13]- a claim that was later revealed to be a hoax.

[01:54.97]After a young black man was murdered in a Jewish section of Brooklyn in 1989,

[02:00.15]Mr. Sharpton led racially charged protests in the streets.

[02:00.23]And when a West African immigrant named Amadou Diallo was shot

[02:04.41]41 times by white police officers who suspected him of reaching for a gun,

[02:09.34]Mr. Sharpton waged a public campaign against

[02:11.90]the police practice of racial profiling.

[02:14.49]Kadiatou Diallo, the mother of the slain Amadou Diallo,

[02:18.88]won't say whether she supports Al Sharpton's bid for the presidency.

[02:22.88]But she does say his ability to bring attention to

[02:25.61]a cause is something that sets him apart.

[02:28.31]"I think for civil rights causes - he advocate(s) that all the time -

[02:34.54]to bring the public awareness around an issue he is effective on that,

[02:40.62]and I think it's a good thing to really have a unique voice

[02:45.74]for people in the minority communities," she said.

[02:49.23]Minority communities, particularly in New York,

[02:52.00]are where Al Sharpton draws most of his support. As a young boy,

[02:56.07]the Brooklyn native had a love for preaching in front of friends and family members,

[03:00.35]and he was ordained as a minister at the age of ten.

[03:03.56]Much of his presidential campaigning so far has involved making television

[03:08.16]appearances and delivering guest sermons at various black well-received.

[03:16.59]In those appearances, Al Sharpton encourages blacks to register to vote.

[03:21.05]He supports tax cuts for the poor and middle class, abortion rights,

[03:25.55]better health care coverage and gay marriage.

[03:28.68]He takes a particularly strong stand against the U.S.

[03:31.89]occupation of Iraq. "I am opposed to occupation.

[03:35.78]I think it is an oxymoron

[03:37.97]to say you are against the war but for occupation," he said.

[03:41.25]"That's like somebody breaking in your house and you call the police and say,

[03:45.86]'They have broken in to you, but they can stay here.'"

[03:48.41]Al Sharpton's one-liners and his comedian's

[03:51.08]sense of timing make him a likeable person,

[03:53.56]but voter polls show he has only a small following.

[03:56.98]According to one recent poll surveying 1,300 registered voters nationwide,

[04:02.27]only five percent said they would like to see

[04:04.58]Al Sharpton win the Democratic nomination.

[04:07.46]Even among African-Americans, support for Al Sharpton is minimal.

[04:12.06]The most recent poll conducted by the Joint

[04:14.62]Center for Political and Economic Studies,

[04:17.10]which conducts research on policy issues of concern to minorities,

[04:21.21]revealed just 37 percent of African-Americans have a favorable view of Al Sharpton.

[04:27.29]David Bositis, an analyst with the Joint Center,

[04:27.44]says Al Sharpton hasn't been able to extend his base of supporters

[04:31.32]beyond the northeastern United States,

[04:33.70]and as a candidate, he won't be able to

[04:35.79]come close to the last black candidate to run for president, Jesse Jackson.

[04:40.25]"This is not an issue election.

[04:42.23]The main thing that African-Americans want is to replace George W. Bush," he said.

[04:46.95]"That's it. Period.

[04:48.96]And all of the Democratic candidates will be acceptable

[04:53.39]so long as they potentially can fit that bill.

[04:56.96]Al Sharpton is obviously not going to fit that bill."

[04:59.44]But the possibility of losing doesn't faze Al Sharpton.

[05:03.04]He is pushing forward, framing his campaign as a movement.

[05:07.11]"Sharpton's New York campaign will be the setting again of the plate

[05:13.12]that will not only affect '04, but will affect '05, will affect '06

[05:19.53]on into the new millennium," he said.

[05:21.40]"This is the beginning of a movement that will unite

[05:25.58]blacks, whites and Latinos to retake this city and

[05:30.11]state to move on toward progressive politics."

[05:33.24]The notion of such a movement,

[05:34.76]and the potential for a ground-swell of influence by black voters

[05:38.36]united for the same cause is what draws New Yorker

[05:41.63]Jim Greene to support Al Sharpton's message.

[05:44.80]"I'm not voting for Al Sharpton, I'm voting for the movement, all right?

[05:47.82]The other people are candidates, what are their real goals?

[05:50.34]You see Al Sharpton's got a movement here going," he said.

[05:52.25]"I would like to compare what Al Sharpton is doing right now

[05:54.34]with the birth of the conservative party for example, okay?

[05:57.04]You start off not wanting to win but you make a point.

[05:59.74]So it became such that when election time came, your endorsement became critical."

[06:05.10]Some election observers believe that Al Sharpton is running

[06:08.09]purely to improve his public image.which is, after all, what he does best.

[06:10.47]Others say he won't have any impact on the outcome of the race.

[06:14.28]But one thing is certain - Al Sharpton will us

[06:17.38]his campaign to raise the volume of minority voices in the United States,

[06:21.99]which is, after all, what he does best.