Posted on 02/16/2005 9:57:44 AM PST by dead
Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) is expected to announce next week that he will run for the Senate, seeking to replace Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.) when he retires in 2006.
Fords office declined to comment on his senatorial plans, but three sources close to Ford said that he has decided to run and that an announcement will be made soon. One informed source said, He will absolutely, 100 percent, run for the Senate. He wants that seat.
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Ford will be traveling in the Middle East later this week, according to those sources, and is scheduled to be back in Tennessee, with some major appearances planned, on Feb. 25.
President Bush won Tennessee 57 to 43 percent, and Ford would face an uphill battle to win statewide. The fifth-term congressman, whose father held the same seat for 22 years, has recently seen his statewide prospects hindered by his family name. His uncle, state Sen. John Ford, is embroiled in a child payment scandal and recently testified in juvenile court that he keeps two homes and lives with two different women whose children he fathered. The scandal has received considerable attention in Tennessee and has dominated political conversation among Democrats speculating about Fords plans.
The source said business leaders in Memphis are lining up behind Ford and noted that the congressman is conservative on fiscal matters. Ford last year indicated support for Sen. Lindsey Grahams (R-S.C.) Social Security reform bill.
While the odds are against Fords winning the seat, the source said Ford will raise a lot of money: He will raise money from California to New York to Florida and everywhere in between.
State Sen. Rosalind Kurita is the only other Democrat who has entered the race. Three Republicans have launched their campaigns, including former Rep. Ed Bryant, state Rep. Beth Harwell and Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker. Former Rep. Van Hilleary (R) is also considering jumping into the race.
He's too white.?.
Junior is a light weight, the Republican machine in Tenn. will eat him alive.
Ford is popular in Memphis, not elsewhere. Unlikely he will win.
"Middle and east tenneseeans generally don't like Memphians."
Denny Crane: "There are two places to find the truth. First God and then Fox News."
I doubt that any of the other candidates of his stature (congressmen) want to risk their careers for a probable loss.
!? {snicker} Now THERE's a name you don't see every day!
Rendell was able to pick up the votes of loads of Republicans in the Philly suburbs. I suspect that Ford would have a very difficult time doing the same among Republicans in Shelby County--to say the dynamic is a little different there would be an understatement.
Not with the skeletons in his fmily history.
Sure, he could make the switch from DINO to RINO. :-)
You can bet Hillary will choose Ford over Obama...
she needs southern exposure!
He does look like a homo. That is not WH material.
That said, he is seen as a rising star. This is good news and bad news, then. Great if we cut him off. Bad if he gets in b/c we lose a seat and promote a potential star.
Although it will be interesting to see him and Osama bin Obama try to crowd each other out of the limelight.
Ford will join Senators Tenenbaum, Bowles, Sanders, John, Castor, Cleland, Majette, Clement, and Mongiardo in the alternate universe where promising, hyped-to-the-skies southern Democrats actually win Senate races while George W. Bush is President.
Does Tennessee have a city with 200 Democrat percent turnout like Philadelphia does? That's apples and oranges.
Exactly
I don't know if the Pennsylvania/Tennessee comparison quite lines up. The Philly suburbs are made up of pro-abort Republicans. Philadelphia itself is a very big place and can put a dent in any Republican's vote lead. I don't think Memphis is quite big enough to have the "dead vote" sway the election, and I don't know of any moderate Republican strongholds in Tennessee comprable to the Philly suburbs. (Though I welcome anyone who knows the state to correct me on that)
LOL!
Good point.
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