I wonder if he will use the family funeral house in downtrodden Memphis as his residence? All the while living in safe Collierville or Germantown of course.
Posted on 02/25/2006 6:34:20 AM PST by Sybeck1
A member of the Ford family has joined the race for Tennessee's Ninth District congressional seat, running, of all things, as an outsider.
Joe Ford Jr., son of the Shelby County commissioner, filed Friday to run as a Democrat.
A Los Angeles resident who left Memphis for college, Ford is moving back to the Ninth District to "give back to the community," he said.
Ford, 32, who practices entertainment and contract law, said he brings real-world experience and is not a career politician.
"I think a lot of things wrong with politics in Memphis and the state of Tennessee and the nation in general is that people just run for one seat and if they don't win it, they run for another one," he said.
While critics might apply that description to members of his family, a political dynasty if there ever was one, he said, "I'm not specifically calling anyone out."
The seat, which has been held by members of the Ford family since the early '70s, is being vacated as Harold Ford Jr. (Joe Ford Jr.'s first cousin) runs for the U.S. Senate. That departure has opened the flood gates of prospective candidates, with 25 filing as of Friday.
A number of them have strong ties to the Ford family, including Harold Ford Jr.'s former campaign manager, Nikki Tinker, and County Commissioner Julian Bolton.
Bolton said Friday that he expects many others will file to run for the seat and that the community will see a vigorous race. Joe Ford Jr.'s decision to file Friday, Bolton said, does not affect his close ties to the family.
"I was surprised about Joe Ford Jr., with him not really having a presence in the community, but you can't control people's ambition and their right to run," Bolton said. "(Voters) will have a chance to select the very best of the best in the community."
Joe Ford Jr. said he has not sought Harold Ford Jr.'s endorsement or counsel. Nor does he feel entitled to the seat because of his family.
"I do not feel like it is a Ford seat," he said. "If people are going to vote for me because my last name is Ford, don't vote for me."
Rhodes College political science professor Marcus Pohlmann said Ford's name in the race furthers the chance of a close outcome.
"This obviously adds an already familiar name to an already crowded field, which will further splinter the vote," Pohlmann said.
County Commissioner Joe Ford said his son, who made the decision to run on his own, would carry on the same representation that's filled the seat for more than three decades.
"I think it's wonderful," Ford Sr. said. "What can I say? I'm a proud dad."
Copyright 2006, commercialappeal.com - Memphis, TN. All Rights Reserved.
I wonder if he will use the family funeral house in downtrodden Memphis as his residence? All the while living in safe Collierville or Germantown of course.
The Kennedy's of the mid-south.
"Sounds like Tennessee has it's own version of the Kennedy mob."
The Fords make the Kennedy family look like saints.
I am disgusted that Fox News sucks up to Harold junior.
Obviously, Fox did not do their homework on this family.
Running as an outsider? Do these Dems have any shame? What an utter joke...
It won't matter what the FBI has. Shortly before Al Sharpton ran for President somebody leaked the video showing him attempting to negotiate his way into the cocaine business; in the Democratic Party and the MSM it hurt him not at all.
If you are a minority or a women there's a completely different, lower, standard.
To confuse things with the Memphis electorate, the campaign slogan, "I drive a Ford" could be useful.
and offend a black, it will never happen; look at the air time they give the disgusting,uneducated, morally challenged al "simpleton" shapton. Imus thinks Ford's poop doesn't smell and that the gop is just trying to smear a good smart Dem. I hope the people of Tn. isn't fooled by this fake supreme moderate clown
So why not take a job teaching in an underacheiving school in Memphis or open a legal aid office for the low income people there or use your expertise to clean up and refurbish some of the bummed-out neighborhoods?
I seem to recall that there was an aspiring senator in Illinois who spent time doing exactly one of those things and was blackmailed out of the election at a critical juncture. Oh, I forgot, he was a white guy and had an "R" after his name.
Democrats wear a little FBI dirt as a badge of honor. He is probably going in to make sure that the dirt stays covered on Harold Ford Sr.
It's just what you do, isn't it.
This young Ford fellow already has a commanding lead among the dead voters of Tennessee, so don't take him lightly.
Be fair. When Nixon talked of the "Silent Majority," you were probably all for it. So lemme axe you, whose majority is the most silent of all? I am willing to discuss this on Imus. I revere him so. Why just look at him. He was way ahead of "Brokeback Mountain," with that fegelah cowboy hat perched precariously on his cute curls.
Wow, 25 candidates! And there isn't a run-off! It's going to be really interesting if white state senator Steven Cohen jumps into the race, since he should be able to get 20% easily and thus probably win the RAT primary in the black-majority district. While the district is overwhelmingly Democrat and trending more so (it held President Bush to 36% in 2000 and 30% in 2004), a black Republican may be able to steal this district in November, especially with supporters of black Democrat candidates looking forward to the 2008 election, in which it would be easier to defeat a black Republican incumbent in the general than a white Democrat incumbent in the primary (it would be interesting to see the reaction of those anti-Semites in the Congressional Black Caucus if the RAT nominee in the TN-09 is not a Ford, but a Cohen). There are currently two Republicans who have announced their candidacy in the district, one of whom, Derrick Bennett, is black. His website doesn't have much info on him yet:
http://www.bennettforcongress.com/
And just imagine if JR. loses the senate race, and Joe Jr. loses the house seat. The strangle hold of a 30 year dynasty is destroyed.
C'mon, folks, this is a Ford now. No need for an election. All a Ford has to do is walk up to the election commission and utter the 5 magic words... "Give me the f**king seat !" and they comply. Don't matter if they're a resident or not. The Fords are like termites. Just when you think you've gotten rid of one, a hundred more appear.
I wonder how this will effect Harold Ford Jr's Senate campaign.
I think at this point, state Sen. Steve Cohen is the likeliest nominee. That won't particularly play well with Black voters, as Cohen is very Caucasian and Jewish (he is also regarded as the single most liberal member of the legislature). If only we could lure someone like Rod DeBerry, the Black Republican who hastened Harold, Sr's retirement in '96, into the race. I have to imagine a great number of Black Democrats will not vote for Cohen in the general (nevermind the anti-White bias, but there still remains considerable anti-Semitism in the Black community, fanned by their leaders), so that also could potentially depress turnout for Junior.
That would help Ed Bryant (should he win the primary) in November.
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