Could help swing Senate to Dems
Of the St. Louis American
Since announcing he would run for U.S. Senate, Congressman Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) has reached out to all of his state’s voters – even if they are holding, wearing or flying a Confederate Flag.
Ford was in St. Louis on Monday stumping with Congressman Wm. Lacy Clay as Ford and state Auditor Claire McCaskill continue their respective campaigns that could help swing the U.S. Senate to a Democratic majority. McCaskill is challenging incumbent Republican Jim Talent.
“I can’t be afraid to go anywhere and ask anyone for support,” Ford said in an interview with the American.
“That’s why I am in a position to win. Every poll shows that.”
A poll released Monday by Zogby Interactive shows Ford opening a lead over Republican Bob Corker, “despite Corker having spent $6 million in unchallenged television advertising during the past two months.”
Ford leads Corker 43.6 percent to 42.5 percent in the poll results.
The moderate Democrat is traveling his state – and others – drumming up support, and if that takes him into roadside taverns featuring “the Stars and Bars,” he said, so be it.
He said he has received “hugs and high-fives” from members of chapters of the Sons of the Confederacy, as well as residents from every part of Tennessee.
“The American public is not looking at party labels. They are not satisfied with the leadership, the management of this country,” he said.
He added that for the first time in years, “people are listening to what you have to say (as a Democrat).”
He said Republicans have done well at “speaking to people’s aspirations,” while Democrats have been too focused on “taking care of people at that moment.”
“But Republicans don’t want to share that message with everyone. They think, ‘He’ll be all right, because we’re OK.’”
This trickle-down attitude “needs to be changed in Washington,” Ford said.
“If you want change, you can’t elect the same.”
The son of longtime Congressman Harold Ford Sr., Ford was first elected to Congress in 1996 at the age of 26. Congressman Clay immediately sought him out.
“It was important for him to be there,” Clay said.
“With him, I was able to form a new caucus. It had two members, he and I, the only African-American sons with fathers who had served in Congress.”
Ford has been re-elected four times by an average of 80 percent of the vote. While re-election would be almost guaranteed, Ford is leaving his House seat in an attempt to become the second black Democratic Senate member, along with Barak Obama of Illinois.
That means campaigning the old-fashioned way.
“There is no substitute for getting out and touching people, assuring them that you will work for them,” he said.
“Americans are concerned about Iraq, gas prices, the economy, education and health care. The perception has been that Democrats are out of touch, so voters have been satisfied with Republicans. But now people want answers, as opposed to just yelling at one another. They want answers, and they want to know if your answers are doable.”
While Tennessee voters “are conservative when it comes to social, cultural and moral issues,” Ford said they are not “fire-brand evangelicals, for the most part.”
He grew up attending church and has found himself correcting other politicians who misquote the Bible.
“But this is who I am. This is what I believe. It’s not fake,” he said.
Ford says he would have voted for a constitutional amendment protecting the U.S. flag from being desecrated, while at the same time he supports stem cell research and disagrees with President George W. Bush’s recent veto of Senate legislation backing federal funding for stem cell research.
He has condemned any plan to grant amnesty to any terrorist. He also has called for a national energy summit to address what is going on with gas prices and energy policy.
“Tennessee doesn’t elect extremists from the right or left. It has produced many national players over the past 50 years – on both the Republican and Democratic sides of the aisle.”
Ford has a leg up on becoming one of those national players who can “get things done.”
He said, “That’s what this campaign is about.”
