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The Rev. Al Sharpton got a phone call from Hillary Clinton and he made sure people knew it.

The activist preacher and MSNBC host, who publicly prodded Clinton to engage during this summers protests in Ferguson, Missouri, but said he didnt hear from her, announced via a news release Wednesday that she had reached out to wish him a happy birthday.

A half-hour before going on his MSNBC show PoliticsNation with Al Sharpton, Rev. Sharpton received a call from former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who wished him a happy early birthday (Sharpton will be sixty this Friday), said the statement from Sharpton publicist Jacky Johnson. Tonight there will be a big party for him at the Four Seasons Restaurant; attendees include: Governor Andrew Cuomo, Senator Chuck Schumer, Mayor Bill de Blasio, entertainer Aretha Franklin, filmmaker Spike Lee and others.

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Mrs. Clinton apologized for not being able to attend but wanted to personally talk to him before the event, the statement said. Rev. Sharpton told Mrs. Clinton, I will make one birthday vow to you. I will stay on the front lines of civil rights and activism until your granddaughter Charlotte gets old enough to vote. At which they both chuckled.

Sharpton, whose relationship with Hillary Clinton and her husband has always been fraught, has risen in prominence in the decade since Bill Clinton left the White House, becoming a key ally of President Barack Obama.

As POLITICOs Glenn Thrush reported, Sharpton was in constant contact with top Obama advisers as he went to the Missouri town to address protesters upset over the fatal police shooting of an unarmed black teen.

While there, Sharpton pushed attention away from Obama and toward the 2016 presidential campaign calling out potential contenders such as Hillary Clinton and New Jerseys Republican Gov. Chris Christie for staying silent.

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Clinton calls Sharpton for birthday