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.
Ford’s 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 Ford’s 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 Graham’s (R-S.C.) Social Security reform bill.
While the odds are against Ford’s 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.
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)
Fee:
In the Memphis area, they are either VERY conservative (Republican) or moderate democrat. Within the city of Memphis, it is more democrat though. The suburbs are conservative Republican.
he is a virulent liberal.... Why is frist retiring in 2006? He has more duty to his country and more is being asked of him
Fee:
I'm wondering that too....I want to see Frist become President. He'd make an excellent President!
I never said that there was more to it. Maybe we are on the same page and just don't know it!!!!!!!!!!!!!
" Maybe we are on the same page and just don't know it!!!!!!!!!!!!! "
Well, your original response to my initial post was that unless, somehow, I lived in Memphis I wouldn't know what I was talking about .. but I can live in Timbuktu and know that Jr. got the seat from daddy. So, we are more or less on the same page, I guess. And my condolences for having the Fords as your reps for 30 yeras :(
My misunderstanding. Sorry.
Junior is a tool. I have heard him speak on Imus, he sounds like a 15 year old who won the "Mayor for a Day" contest in High School.
His speaking style is that of someone using words and phrases that are not his ordinary speach. He is very stiff, he doen't come across genuine.
W can misspeake, hell I misspeak, but W is genuine, it come right through.
We are not going to allow that seat to go the those trolls.
I don't know who's record he broke, but Richardson, during his campaign for governor, set the record at a state fair (or something like it).
He really is in the Guinnes book of world records for most handshakes in a day.
Change DU to FR
LOL!
A member of THAT family?
Who'll vote for him, outside of Memphis, that is?
I agree. He's very smart, a gentleman, and has good conservative ideas (unlike some of our own). He very well could rise up and take the senate. Too bad he's not a Republican.
He's less moderate than thought, pro choice, anti gun ownership, The Christian Coalition has said he has an anti family voting record, against privatizing social security, anti death penalty. He's a liberal moderate. There's more on his voting record at http://www.issues2000.org/House/Harold_Ford.htm.
If someone attacks him on his voting record he's doomed.
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