Posted on 01/05/2010 7:14:43 PM PST by Steelfish
Harold Ford Jr. Weighs a Challenge to Gillibrand
By MICHAEL BARBARO January 5, 2010 Encouraged by a group of influential New York Democrats, Harold Ford Jr., the former congressman from Tennessee, is weighing a bid to unseat Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in this fall’s Democratic primary, according to three people who have spoken with him.
Mr. Ford, 39, who moved to New York three years ago, has told friends that he will decide whether to run in the next 45 days. The discussions between Mr. Ford and top Democratic donors reflect the dissatisfaction of some prominent party members with Ms. Gillibrand, who has yet to win over key constituencies, especially in New York City.
About a dozen high-profile Democrats have expressed interest in backing a candidacy by Mr. Ford, including the financier Steven Rattner, who, along with his wife, Maureen White, has been among the country’s most prolific Democratic fund-raisers.
“Maureen and I worked hard for Harold in his last race because we think the world of him,” Mr. Rattner said, referring to Mr. Ford’s run for the Senate in Tennessee in 2006. “He has extraordinary drive and intelligence and will excel at anything that he chooses to do.”
Among those who have encouraged Mr. Ford to consider a run are Merryl H. Tisch, the chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, whose husband, James, is the chief executive of the Loews Corporation, and Richard Plepler, the co-president of HBO, according to people who have spoken with them.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has publicly tangled with Ms. Gillibrand, is open to the possibility of supporting a challenger of Mr. Ford’s stature, according to those familiar with his thinking.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
I think I’m going to be sick. I despise this man more than I should admit.
Alan Keyes (MD, unsuccessful; IL, unsuccessful).
Bill Brock was elected in TN in 1970 over pappa Gore (and a country singer Tex Ritter in the GOP primary). He lost reelection in 1976 to Jim Sasser and ran and lost in Maryland in 1994 against rat incumbent John Sarbanes.
Tex Ritter was John Ritter’s father. Had Tex gotten the nomination and beat Gore, he’d have died midway through his term (died here in Nashville in Jan ‘74, the month my parents moved down from NYC with me in utero). Like his son, he also had a heart condition, he died just short of 69. John was just short of 55.
Brock was fairly conservative right? I notice his ACU scores are better than Jim Baker’s. Too bad he lost to that creep Sasser.
Yes. Tex was more a “moderate”, but Brock beat him in the ‘70 primary soundly (Brock was never much in danger of losing, he won 75%-23%). Although the media loved to cite Brock as the big, bad right-winger who alone brought down the beloved innocent Gore, Sr., was horsecrap. Gore, Sr. was so distrusted trying to play both sides, the race-baiter who filibustered Civil Rights in ‘64, and then the great race liberal afterwards, he almost lost renomination.
Gore actually was challenged from the right in the primary by a young newscaster from Nashville named Hudley Crockett, Crockett had also worked for former Conservative Dem. Gov. Buford Ellington. Ellington was none too happy to see in his last year in office the liberals hijack the party, with John Jay Hooker (then a national liberal Democrat) the nominee to succeed him for Governor, or Gore, Sr. (emerging from a bruising win where he only received 51% in the primary).
If the race had ended up between Crockett and Brock, that would’ve been interesting. Crockett was slightly younger than Brock, but both of them would’ve been competing for the same center-right voters. Liberals would’ve had nowhere to go. Crockett ran for Governor, but placed 4th in the Dem primary, just behind TN Treasurer and future Judge Tom Wiseman, and two future jailbirds, ex-Congressman Ray Blanton and Banker Jake Butcher (the ‘78 nominee).
Anyway, after Brock defeated Gore (who refused to congratulate Brock or make a concession speech out of “righteous anger”) by a 51-47% margin, he became one of the biggest stars to emerge out of the 1970 cycle. TN also became the first Southern state since the 19th century to have two GOP Senators.
The GOP was in weak shape in TN, after being obliterated in ‘74 when we became the federal minority (losing the Memphis and Chattanooga seats). Brock had some problems going into ‘76, and the Dems had the momentum and Carter at the top of the ticket, who put all of Nixon’s ‘72 Southern wins right back in the rodent column. Sasser still only won by 52-47% in a much higher turnout (Brock still got 150k more votes in 1976 than in 1970). Sasser wrapped the albatross of Watergate and Nixon around Brock’s neck, including the allegation that Brock’s campaign benefitted from Nixon money in 1970 flooding into his campaign. Anything “Nixon” was toxic (also caused Lamar!’s loss in ‘74 against Blanton), but Sasser was really there to avenge Gore, Sr’s loss (and in that election, Gore, Jr. won his father’s old House seat after beating a more qualified state legislative leader in the primary).
Brock was still well-regarded enough to be considered a VP running mate and was made the RNC Chairman immediately upon his narrow loss for reelection. I believe it was his bold decision to hold the 1980 national convention in Detroit (of all places) in an attempt to make a play for the Black vote, and, of course, he presided over the win that year, and was rewarded with the slot of U.S. Trade Rep and then Secretary of Labor.
He put in a game effort in Maryland against Sarbanes in ‘94, getting 41%, but I’m sure he was thrilled to see Sasser go down in that same election. Although it was TN’s loss, he probably was one of our best three GOP Chairmen in the modern era (with the other two being Lee Atwater and Haley Barbour).
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