It's the Brian Laris show on WNIC.

Good morning, everyone.

They were just talking about Reverend Jesse Jackson on the BBC, right?

I don't remember ever hearing three obits in a row on an NPR

headlines cast, but at 7.30 this morning, three stories in a row were about the deaths of

Reverend Jackson, the documentarian Frederick Wiseman, and the actor Robert Duval, three giants

from three very different walks of life.

But there they were three stories in a row, and I just don't think I ever heard anything like that before.

We're planning now to talk about Reverend Jackson's impact in some depth on tomorrow's show,

but I just want to say a few things right now, because most of the obits I've

been hearing and reading this morning are in the context of Jackson's influence on national

politics, which is, of course, the main story, and they were just talking about that on the BBC.

But there is also a New York impact story. Reverend Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign in

the Democratic primary was also very much a voter registration campaign. He knew he wasn't going to win

the nomination. But along the way, he inspired many African Americans and others to register

to vote for the first time. And that helped David Dinkins the following year, 1989, get elected mayor of New York.

Now, Dinkins first had to beat Mayor Ed Koch in a Democratic primary, and then Rudy Giuliani

in the general election in 89.

And one of the reasons analysts said at the time that Dinkins was able to do that was Jesse Jackson's 1988 voter registration and turnout campaign hooked to his presidential campaign.

In the Democratic primary in New York, in 88, when Jackson was running, voter turnout was up substantially from 1984 when Jackson also ran in the primary.

And Jackson came in a strong second to Michael Dukakis in 88 with 37% of the vote.

In addition, Spectrum News New York One looked back on that influence a few years ago and even gave Jackson's

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