In a Newsweek article, Harold Ford says that:
If there is anything voters are sick of, more than anything, it’s
people running for office two, three, four years out, particularly when
there are big obstacles, challenges, opportunities on the table that
need to be addressed. So there is no race in my immediate future.
Strange… since all he has ever done is run for office…
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Jackson Baker has a great article, discussing how Ford’s dad and brother are destroying Harold’s chances of ever winning this election. It really does blow my mind that they can’t just shut up for a few weeks. Dad and brother are raising hell, while Uncle John is in court begging for a reduction in his child support. This must drive Harold crazy. This might be a good time for Harold to change his name ….. “I’m Harold Ordfay [Harold, you could go with the Pig Latin name.] and I approved this message”.
Representative Ford who had maintained a cautious and ostensibly neutral distance from his brother Jake Ford’s independent congressional race against Democratic nominee Steve Cohen and Republican Mark White, seemed to cross a line with unexpectedly strong criticism of Cohen.It began when state senator Cohen, on a fund-raising trip to Nashville, checked in with members of the Legislative Plaza press corps and delivered himself of some typically outspoken observations about what he — honestly or conveniently or both — saw as the drag on Ford’s senatorial campaign. Cohen saw Representative Ford’s “tremendous attributes” being overshadowed by the candidacy of brother Jake as well as by a speech given by Harold Ford Sr. in which the former congressman not only conflated a Harold Jr. rally with support for second son Jake but attacked Cohen in language that disturbed many who heard or read about it with its religious overtones.
“We’re from a Christian city here,” Ford Sr. had said at one point. “[Jake] doesn’t believe in legalizing marijuana. This man that’s running against Jake wants some sex shops running in downtown Memphis on a Sunday! That’s our religious holiday.”
After remarking on Representative Ford’s “tremendous attributes,” Cohen told his audience of Nashville media, “For him to come this far and to have the effort to overreach, I guess, and to have his younger brother run in the 9th District, I think has hurt his campaign.”
Further, in a reference to Ford Sr.’s out-of-town residences: “The Ford machine used to have a lot of foot soldiers. … The top brass has moved away from the foot soldiers. It’s hard to be in touch with your foot soldiers when you’re on Fisher Island [Miami] or in the Hamptons.”
That prompted a press release in Representative Ford’s name, which said in part: “Now, it appears that state senator Steve Cohen and Mayor Bob Corker are singing from the same Ford family attack hymnal. I know that Bob Corker is attacking my family because he has come up short on ideas and answers in this campaign. I didn’t know that … Cohen was suffering from the same problem.”
The congressman’s statement also accused Cohen of support for gay marriage, amnesty for illegal immigrants, legalization of marijuana, and “a cut-and-run strategy in Iraq.”
For the record, Cohen has denied favoring gay marriage, opposing only what he calls “constitutional tampering” on top of existing statutes outlawing it. He also introduced a bill last year to legalize the use of marijuana for strictly medical purposes.“I really think that if Harold Ford Jr. had run with me on a ticket, it would have been a ‘dream team,’” Cohen mused last week in Nashville.
So much for that dream. The reality was that, with the advent of early voting last Wednesday, Ford Sr. had personally taken charge of a Get-Out-the-Vote drive on behalf of both of his candidate sons, routing voters to polling sites via a fleet of buses and other vehicles.
The answer is … it is not. Nathan Moore had a very good point. Why did it take everyone 24 hours to figure out that this ad was racist???? Why …. because it took 24 hours to get the full force of the NAACP and the political spin machines in full-swing.
Why, I ask would you call this ad racist? I have admitted. This ad is in very poor taste. And, frankly, it “sucks”. It doesn’t do anything for the Corker campaign. And, it is too ridiculous and stupid to ever hurt Ford. So, from the get-go - I thought “this is tacky. They should be pulling this ad.”
But, never in my wildest imagination … did I ever think of any racial implications. Look, I would at least HOPE that in this nation, today, we have put behind us the thought that an inner-racial couple is taboo. Look, I know that there are racists out there. And, frankly, if they feel that way, (as pathetic as they are) they probably won’t vote for Ford anyway.
So, I don’t see this as an attempt to play the “race card”. It is an ineffective, tacky ad. But, is it an ad that will have any impact on the electorate? I don’t think so. Does it give the media the controversy that they want as the lead story on the news? Absolutely.
A.C. had a great point in response to mine …..
I don’t know about this. If Harold Ford loses this Senate race, I don’t think he’ll return to Congress. Not as a Congressman anyway. Harold Ford doesn’t strike me as a man who goes backwards. He’ll find something else to do. MSNBC or someone else would be more than happy to give him a show.
With the national profile he will have developed from making this race close, going back to Memphis to run for Congress against Steve Cohen is the last thing he’s gonna need in his life. He’ll have a myriad of options that won’t involve retail politics of that sort.
Besides, in two years, there may very well be a Democratic President who would be more than happy to appoint Ford Secretary of something.
Harold Ford, win or lose, has left Memphis politics in the dust. As a white congressman in a majority black district, Cohen will always have to watch his back — but he has nothing to Fear from Junior. He will move on.
You just might be right. I can see that scenario, too. Ford just might have put Memphis in his rear view mirror. And, you have to think … if he loses, he just might be an outstanding addition to a Democratic ticket as a VP in 2008. Who knows? Regardless, it will be really interesting to see what happens.
Volunteer Voters discusses the new Wall Street Journal poll, showing Bob Corker with a decisive lead:
From Blogging for Corker:
A new Wall Street Journal/ Zogby Poll released today shows Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker with a 7 point lead over Washington Congressman Harold Ford. The independent poll has a margin of error of 3.3%.
So what do you think this means? Is this poll proof that the Ford campaign has reached its ceiling and that the retooled Corker campaign has reclaimed it’s rightful place atop the heap?
Or is this just one more poll among many others that will swing back and forth right up until election day?
I have always maintained that Ford needs to be within or above the margin of error to win. This poll is not within the margin AND it favors Corker. Not good news for Ford however you slice it — especially since folks are beginning to actually cast early voting ballots.
I have to agree with A.C.. I have to hand it to Ford. From the beginning, I didn’t think (and many didn’t) that he even stood half of a chance. But, I admit … about a month ago …. I became slightly concerned. The primary just tore all three apart.
But, from the beginning, I have also thought that Ford just had no margin for error in order to win this race. I saw the momentum change a month ago. But, now, clearly, based upon new polling data, the momentum has shifted again. While I think that this race may be closer than 7, I now feel pretty confident in Corker’s win.
Well, I have to agree with Nathan Moore. Corker’s most recent ad struck me the wrong way.
I am annoyed by one of Corker’s radio ads (it might also be a TV ad … I run out of the room screaming when any political commercials come on the screen these days). And, I must say that Corker is not the only politician guilty of the tactic I am about to describe. He is just the one I happened to hear this morning.
Corker spends his thirty seconds developing a contrast between his personal history and that of Congressman Ford. Easy enough to do. One line in the script is, “Harold Ford went off to study at the University of Pennsylvania, while Bob Corker … well, he went to the University of Tennessee.”
I translate that statement as follows:
“Harold Ford went up north for some of that fancy book learnin’. Betcha he don’t know all the words to Rocky Top, though!”
Look, I love a good campaign … and good ads. But, in this decade, this kind of ad just doesn’t work anymore. Tennessee is not the state that it was 20 years ago. Face it, MANY people in Nashville did not grow up here. I just don’t think this kind of ad resonates anymore. The “carpetbagger” label is just not what it used to be.
An independent organization has jumped into the U.S. Senate race with a new television advertisement blasting Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Tenn., for what it calls excessive campaign spending.
The Free Enterprise Fund Committee’s spot, which quickly was decried by the Ford campaign, plays on MasterCard’s “Priceless” spots by listing Rep. Ford’s expenditures on cigars, hotels and an Armani suit along with price tags.
Here’s my take (and attempt at humor) at these ads …..
An uncle busted for shooting at people on I-40 ….
A different uncle convicted of insurance fraud ….
A father charged with federal bank fraud …..
And, of course, Tennessee Waltz
Candidate for Senate …. PRICELESS ….
Tennessee Politics blog reports on John Ford’s recent request for a child support reduction:
John Ford Asks for Cut in Child Support - Again — Last time former State Sen.John Ford asked for a cut in child support, he went out a bought a luxury car the next day. Now Ford is again in court asking for a cut in his child support. Ford says most of his financial records have been scattered by an FBI raid the day he was arrested in Operation Tennessee Waltz. His lawyer argued that while Ford had fallen $50,000 behind on his child support, he deserves a break because of the “extraordinary circumstances” brought on by his criminal prosecution. His lawyer argued that while Ford had fallen $50,000 behind on his child support, he deserves a break because of the “extraordinary circumstances” brought on by his criminal prosecution.
Given, Ford was born into this family …. that is not his fault. But, the fact is …. why wouldn’t (John) Ford just lay low for a few weeks. The antics of this family never fail to amaze me. Unbelievable.
Ford is no more of a lawyer than a 2L. Congressman Ford, tell me about all of your vast court room experience or your days working on discovery … or how about all of those rough depositions that you were a part of ….. unbelievable ….
From the Tennessean today…..
Conservative voters such as Moore could nod in agreement with those. But the question at hand was whether Ford would vote to criminalize abortion.
Ford launched into a carefully crafted treatise on abortion, saying that he is a “believer in protecting the unborn and the born.”
“You have to protect people’s choice,” he said, but, at the same time, “You have to hope people make the right decision.”
Ford built a case, which would be repeated later that day, on why he thinks Republicans have done nothing to outlaw abortions.
What does that mean? …. just more evidence of the double talk that is now the MO of Harold Ford during election season. How do you “protect the unborn” and still remain pro-choice?
But, to take the focus from the issue, he launches into a tirade on what Republicans have failed to do…. unbelievable. Where are you on this issue, Congressman Ford?
