Ford blasts 'vulgar'
ad in Senate bid as
GOP stoops to sleaze
BY TONEY ATKINS
For The Florida Courier
If elected Nov. 7, Tennessee Democrat Harold Ford Jr. will become the first Black senator from the South since Reconstruction, and the tight campaign battle with his White Republican opponent has become heated and fierce in the wake of a GOP television ad that many say is "shocking" and bordering on being blatantly racist.
The Senate race has grabbed national headlines since the GOP started showing the political advertisement last week.
The ad, which has been shown several times on national TV, has a hunter saying that Harold Ford wants to take his gun away. That is misleading, political observers say, pointing out that the National Rifle Association says that while it has endorsed Bob Corker, former Republican mayor of Chattanooga, the NRA really has no objection to Harold Ford and is not going to be spending any money against him.
The racial question raised by the ad shows a white woman to dramatize the charge about him attending a party that was sponsored by Playboy at the Super Bowl a few years ago.
The racial question raised by the ad shows a white woman to dramatize the charge about him attending a party that was sponsored by Playboy at the Super Bowl a few years ago.
The ad shows an unidentified White woman who says, "Harold Ford looks nice. Isn't that enough?" At the end of the ad, a White woman says seductively, "Harold, call me."
Corker claims he had nothing to do with the ad and that he and other conservative Republicans had asked the Republican National Committee to stop running it.
Corker defended himself in an interview with Wolf Blitzer Tuesday evening on CNN.
Corker defended himself in an interview with Wolf Blitzer Tuesday evening on CNN.
Corker said "These are independent expenditure groups. We want it down. We do not believe that it -- certainly does not represent our campaign. We have nothing to do with it. We believe that it's tacky and has no place in this race." He would not acknowledge whether he thought the ad was racist.
Ford said he did not know if it is intended to be racial, but "I do know it's sleazy and it's promoting smut and it's coming on during family programming time in my state. The question I have is if my opponent wants it down, he should be able to get it down. If he doesn't have the influence to convince Republicans in Washington to take a sleazy, awful, smut-pushing ad down in our state, how on earth can voters trust him to stand up for them in Tennessee to the Republicans?"
He added, "If Democrats were running an ad like this, it wouldn't be running. I can assure you. But this campaign is about something bigger. And one of the reasons that I think the National Republican Party is engaged in this kind of campaigning is they have come up short on ideas and answers. My opponent has too. When it comes to Iraq, North Korea, middle-class values, health care, education, all of the issues that are important to people, he's not been able to articulate a clear message. And I think the national party has demonstrated a great frustration."
Ford said Corker is "trying so hard to deflect attention away from front-page newspaper accounts all across our state of his mayoral time when he was mayor of Chattanooga and directed funds towards projects at his own real estate company and had great, great interest in. He's trying to deflect attention away from the fact that he has not released any of his tax returns. I think he's the only Senate candidate in the country and finally when he was in the private sector, he's only the Senate candidate in the country who has ever hired an illegal alien. He hired four of them and had his property raided by the federal government. So he, in turn, has tried to make this about something other than what's important to voters."
He added, "If Democrats were running an ad like this, it wouldn't be running. I can assure you. But this campaign is about something bigger. And one of the reasons that I think the National Republican Party is engaged in this kind of campaigning is they have come up short on ideas and answers. My opponent has too. When it comes to Iraq, North Korea, middle-class values, health care, education, all of the issues that are important to people, he's not been able to articulate a clear message. And I think the national party has demonstrated a great frustration."
Ford said Corker is "trying so hard to deflect attention away from front-page newspaper accounts all across our state of his mayoral time when he was mayor of Chattanooga and directed funds towards projects at his own real estate company and had great, great interest in. He's trying to deflect attention away from the fact that he has not released any of his tax returns. I think he's the only Senate candidate in the country and finally when he was in the private sector, he's only the Senate candidate in the country who has ever hired an illegal alien. He hired four of them and had his property raided by the federal government. So he, in turn, has tried to make this about something other than what's important to voters."
In an earlier interview, Ford said, "We've not run a Black campaign, a White campaign, a Democrat campaign or Republican campaign. We've run a campaign to move my state and this country forward. I think one of the reasons we picked up 20 points and find ourselves in a statistical dead heat ... is because we've been positive, we've been constructive. And voters all across our state are rejecting the kind of stale, predictable, negative campaigning coming out of my opponent's mouth. And frankly, they realize that American politics is no longer decided on the axis of left and right or liberal or conservative, but it's about moving forward."
During a recent debate in Chattanooga, Ford said, "If you want a rubber stamp, don't vote for me."
During a recent debate in Chattanooga, Ford said, "If you want a rubber stamp, don't vote for me."
Corker accused the Memphis congressman of being a Washington insider who benefited from the "machine-style" politics of his politically connected family.
Corker questioned the work of Ford's father, former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., as a lobbyist for Fannie Mae while Ford Jr. sat on the House committee overseeing its activities.
Ford said no one in his family has ever lobbied him on congressional issues and he would refuse them if they did. "I work for the people of the 9th District," he told the audience at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
Ford attacked his opponent's support for what until this week was called the Bush administration's "stay the course" policy in Iraq. Bush has said he will no longer use that term in reference to the war.
"If you want to stay the course, I'm not your guy," Ford said. "If you believe America is better than what they've given us this past six years, then I ask for your vote."Ford said reducing dependence on foreign oil would help keep the country from getting caught up in foreign conflicts and said his opponent was an advocate for "big oil."
Corker said "new strategies" are needed in the war but he disagreed with Ford's suggestion to divide Iraq by ethnic and religious lines.
Ford blamed the Republicans for not doing anything to rein in federal spending during their 12 years of power in Congress. He also said he supported going to a two-year budget cycle.
Corker said his experience as a business executive, state finance commissioner and mayor would help him during budget discussions.
Elected to the House of Representatives in 1996, Ford has been re-elected four times by an average of 80 percent of the vote and has a reputation as a consensus builder, research shows.
In 1998, Ford was 28 years old when he cast his vote for the first federal balanced budget -- the first time America's budget had been balanced since 1969. He has played pivotal roles in advancing legislation to reform the nation's campaign finance laws, to crack down on corporate cheaters by strengthening corporate governance laws, to encourage more Americans to serve their country and to raise standards in public education.
Ford says he is proud of his family and his Christian faith.
UPDATE: The Republican National Committee supposedly has pulled the controversial ad as of Thursday, Oct. 26.)
-- The Associated Press and Cable News Network contributed to this report.
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