Free Republic

Harold Ford Jr. might be coming to a classroom near you, at least for some lucky Vanderbilt students. The Nashville university announced today the five-term former congressman has taken a position as a visiting professor of public policy. Ford will teach a seminar called "Foundations of American Political Leadership," starting next week. "Vanderbilt is a world-class university, and I am excited and honored to have the opportunity to teach at this wonderful place," Ford said in a news release. Numerous attempts to reach him this afternoon were unsuccessful. Ford, a Memphis Democrat, held the Ninth Congressional District seat in the...

There are more than five weeks to go before the midterm elections, and I'm already sick of the ubiquitous Senate campaign ads on TV -- especially those from the Johnny one-note former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker. I know, I know, he's just doing the Republicans' well-practiced three-step shuffle -- repeating buzz words, labeling Democrats as evil people and ignoring the massive failures of the last six years. The spots that feature Corker's overbearing mother are quickly becoming as annoying as the "Head-On! Apply directly to the forehead!" ads. For this voter, who isn't exactly a fan of the Democratic candidate,...

NASHVILLE -- Democratic senatorial candidate Harold Ford Jr. charged Friday that opponent Bob Corker's new statewide TV ad saying that Ford voted against reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act is a "lie." The Memphis congressman's remarks followed a news conference at the Tennessee Vietnam Veterans Memorial here where he and about two dozen military veterans announced formation of a Veterans for Ford group. Ford rejected claims by Republican Corker that he has a "weak record in protecting America," including the charge in a new Corker TV ad that Ford voted against renewing the Patriot Act. The anti-terrorism law originally passed following...

John Ford says he's financially strapped, but the indicted former state senator is still living the high life, a lawyer argued Thursday. Ford applied for tags for a new, $80,000 Mercedes on the very day he filed court papers seeking a reduction in his court-ordered child support. Then, about four weeks ago, Ford bought a $40,000 BMW, said government child support attorney Joe Little. All the while, Little told a Juvenile Court judge, Ford has missed child support payments month after month and hidden bank and tax documents that detail his true income. "He has thumbed his nose at your...

MEMPHIS — The fight over Ophelia Ford's removal from the state Senate isn't over, even though a majority of senators voted for it, a federal judge said Tuesday. In granting a request from Ford to block appointment of an interim replacement by the Shelby County Commission, Judge Bernice Donald said she must decide if the Senate's decision to remove Ford was proper. "There may be no vacancy for the county to fill," Donald said. Ford won a special election to the Senate by 13 votes last year, but senators decided in April to overturn those results, citing evidence of two...

May 7--In the competitive race to fill the Senate seat of departing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R), likely Democratic nominee Harold Ford continues to trail all three potential Republican opponents. Representative Van Hilleary now leads Ford 47% to 38%. Representative Ed Bryant leads Ford 44% to 36%. And Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker leads him 43% to 39%. Those numbers are little changed from our previous Tennessee election poll. Since the beginning of the year, the gaps between Ford and the Republicans have widened. Hilleary does a bit better among conservatives than Bryant or Corker. All four candidates are viewed...

NASHVILLE -- After nearly two years of campaigning, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. of Memphis made his candidacy for the U.S. Senate official today, filing qualifying papers at the Tennessee secretary of state's office at 11:56 a.m. The filing ends months of lingering speculation in some quarters on whether the five-term congressman would really leave his safe Democratic 9th District seat to make the uphill run for the other side of the U.S. Capitol. Still, Ford is only the second of the five major Senate candidates of both parties to file the documents to enter the race, with the qualifying...

Was the matriarch of a Memphis political dynasty a white woman who married into a black family? Or was she a black woman with a white forefather buried in her lineage, a past shared with millions of black people?And why does it matter?Vera D. Ford The race of Vera Ford, the paternal grandmother of U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., came up when Harold Jr. declared she was white while campaigning for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee. His statement, first reported in December in a USA Today profile of the congressman, surprised many longtime Memphians who knew the Ford family and...

This is a verbatim transcript of Sen. Ford's remarks to reporters as she was leaving the Senate committee examining her election Thursday. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, that's why God is using me _ little old me _ to make needed laws that needed to be changed. It's not just affecting our state, it's going to affect our whole country with laws needing to have been change. They had to come upon a way to do it. What can they do but something like that? I think they're doing the very best that they can, my colleagues, I...

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...

NEW YORK Results of a state senate election in western Tennessee have been thrown into doubt, and an investigation into voter fraud launched, after the Memphis Commercial Appeal uncovered proof that votes had been cast for dead people. The Sept. 15 special election to fill a vacant seat in the 29th state Senate District, which includes part of Memphis, had already drawn intense interest when the margin of victory was just 13 votes out of 8,750 cast. Democrat Ophelia Ford had edged Republican Terry Roland in the race to fill the seat previously held by Ford's brother, John, who was...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — As many as five ballots may have been forged by a poll worker or someone with specialized election knowledge in a state Senate special election, a Shelby County election official said. Shelby County Election Commission Chairman Greg Duckett said similar handwriting appeared on two ballot applications with dead voters’ names as well as three other applications. The votes were cast in the Sept. 15 state Senate race to replace former Sen. John Ford. Only nine ballots put Ford’s sister, Democrat Ophelia Ford, ahead of Republican contender, Terry Roland. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation was called in...