That may depend on which higher up you are talking about. HRC benefits from it if Dean is the candidate in 2004--she has a stronger rat representation in the Senate and she will be the presumptive candidate in 2008.
It may be the only way for the Rats to break even in the Senate--massive black voter turnout. With Sharpton as a third party candidate, the rats don't get nailed by independents for running him, but they get the turnout. If they are going to lose the presidential election anyway, it sounds like a good short term strategy.