Vann on Barack Obama '08 and Jesse Jackson '84

After speaking at Barack Obama’s watch party in Manhattan, I sat down with City Councilman Al Vann of Brooklyn, who compared this campaign to the Rev. Jesse Jackson’s 1984 presidential campaign, which Vann said he spearheaded in New York.

“The primary engine driving that campaign really was the black church,” Vann said of the Jackson campaign. “

Vann goes on to say, “Both have charisma, both drew a crowd. Jesse’s crowd was not the magnitude that Barack would draw.”