Ford's out, won't challenge Gillibrand in New York

By Michael J.W. Stickings

"Independent" Democrat Harold Ford Jr. has decided not to challenge New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. As he writes in an op-ed in today's Times:

I've examined this race in every possible way, and I keep returning to the same fundamental conclusion: If I run, the likely result would be a brutal and highly negative Democratic primary -- a primary where the winner emerges weakened and the Republican strengthened.

I refuse to do anything that would help Republicans win a Senate seat in New York, and give the Senate majority to the Republican.

How thoughtful of him. And how full of shit. He says some of the right things, without ever saying much at all -- he is a man seemingly without principles, a man whose positions on the issues, such as health-care reform, shift according to political expediency, a man whose candidacy, in Jonathan Chait's words, would have been "an epiphenomenon of Wall Street's retreat into a fantasy world -- but he is nothing if not an egotist. Sure, he would have beaten Gillibrand, but "the party bosses" got in the way, trying to "intimidate" him against running. Sure, he gets how "tough" it is out there -- like he really knows -- but he won't run because it's too important that he not. Not that any of it is his fault, of course.

As I've written before, I wasn't exactly much of a Gillibrand fan when Gov. David Paterson appointed her to replace Hillary Clinton last year, but my sense since then is that she's done fairly well. Indeed, I have come to like her a great deal, particularly her admirable leadership on DADT repeal. She deserves to remain in office, and she'll need the full weight of her party behind her if she is to beat the likely Republican candidate, former Gov. George Pataki.

As for Ford, did New York really need yet another carpetbagger (sorry, Hillary), and a centrist, self-serving, Lieberman-like (i.e., thorn in Democrats' sides, often more Republican than Democrat) one at that, one with close ties to Wall Street, one who was being pushed to run by prominent, NYC-oriented donors and insiders who don't like, and who look down upon, Gillibrand's upstate credentials? Certainly not. New York doesn't, the Senate doesn't, and the Democratic Party doesn't.

(In New York, as The Albany Project's Adama Brown writes, "Ford's candidacy represented a money-first view of politics," and his "timely demise" is "a win for the fledgling pro-reform movement in New York State politics," the movement that opposes a free-for-all system that "allow[s] a disturbing amount of power to be wielded by a relatively small number of people who have money to burn.")

As Adam Bink writes at Open Left, "Ford will go back to his private helicopter tours of NYC, his breakfasts at the Regency Hotel with the Giants and Jets owners, his pedicures and multi-million dollar bonuses -- all times ten. One thing the moneyed political set loves is a media star and for his personal life, perhaps Ford as 'the-guy-who-threatened-to-run-but-chose-not-to-for-the-sake-of-the-party' is the path he's wanted all along."

It can't be good riddance, and it's simply disgusting that Ford will continue to profit mightily from his lucrative connections (and from selling out and cozying up to Wall Street), but at least he's not running. We need to get behind Gillibrand, who is the right Democrat for the job, and a real Democrat at that.

Top Ten Cloves: Things that can happen when Earth gets knocked off its axis

By J. Thomas Duffy 

News Item: Chilean quake shifted Earth's axis: NASA scientist 

10. Warren Buffett sneaks out his annual report, glossing over his boners 

9. Disgraced, election-losing, Jack Abramoff-toadie Ralph Reed starts thinking about running for Congress 

8. New York Times fawns over teabagger 

7. Harold Ford bails out of running for Senate (and someone thinks Larry "Kuddles" Kudlow should run) 

6. PlayStation 3 goes screwy 

5. Right-wing Freakshower Ann Althouse gives President Obama beer-drinking advice 

4. Jim Bunning hides in "Senator's Only" elevators and gives people the middle finger 

3. People start putting up "Miss Me Yet" billboards to honor The Commander Guy 

2. A certain new senator longs to wear his retro pink leather shorts 

1. Canada breaks out the Inflatable Beavers




(Cross-posted at The Garlic.)

First Rule of Harold Ford ...

By J. Thomas Duffy

You don't talk about Harold Ford

Second rule of Harold Ford, you don't talk about Harold Ford.



Now, it would really be story, if it comes out that the that the helicopter-flyin', wanna-be-carpetbagger was a member of 'Fight Club'.

That would seem to be the case, as The Smoking Gun has unearthed Ford's rider, for his nicely-paid speaking gigs.

Harold Ford Superstar - U.S. Senate wannabe's tour rider anticipates swarms of adoring fans

Like Jay-Z and Lady Gaga, Harold Ford, Jr. has a tour rider.

[snip]

According to the below contract for an appearance Wednesday at a Missouri college, Ford demands that when his limo driver picks him up, the chauffeur must be carrying a sign reading "H.F.." Presumably, if the Democrat's name was spelled out, hordes of fans/groupies would be alerted to his impending arrival and swarm him (something that has bedeviled the Jonas Brothers).

The Smoking Gun as a copy of the rider, so go check it out.

Alex Pareene, over on Gawker, had some fun with it, as well;

Presumably, if the driver just wrote "Harold Ford" (or "Ford"?), the would-be candidate would be swamped by a mob of adoring fans. So the rider stipulates that the sign read, cryptically, "H.F." (What if Howard Fineman is at the same airport? Or Hank Finkel? Or... Hitler Frankenstein?)

Bonus points to Alex, for using "Hank Finkel" in there.

Now, this isn't as extensive as the former Shadow President's rider, which demanded that Faux News be on any television within his eye range (and, we riffed on that with "Top Ten Cloves: Slogans and Tag Lines For Caffeine-Free Diet Sprite – If Dick Cheney Was Pitchman"), as the rider says, no shellfish, but nothing about caffeine-free drinks, or Faux News.

And, since Ford took to calling Senator Kirsten Gillibrand a "“parakeet", here's hoping he does run against her, and that she shits all over him.




(Cross Posted at The Garlic)

The cliff is still only feet away

By Creature

And if Democrats listen to Harold Ford Jr.'s advice to "address budget deficits now rather than waiting for some ideal future economic situation" we are sure to go over that cliff. We need to spend and Democrats need to explain why. And when they are done explaining, they must explain it all over again. And again. And again.

Things that make you go "Hmmmmm..."

By Carl

Senator Harold Ford, Jr... of New York???

His stature undoubtedly derives from his five consecutive terms as a United States representative and a bitterly contested campaign for the Senate, but Mr. Ford, 39, has introduced himself to New Yorkers as a self-assured, nattily dressed political insider on Fox, NBC and MSNBC.

Over the past two years, he become a regular on shows like “Morning Joe” and “Meet the Press,” pontificating on everything from death panels to Barack Obama’s popularity.The appearances have given Mr. Ford’s name a familiar ring but have revealed little about his politics, which will become the subject of intense scrutiny over the next few weeks as he decides whether to run against Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand this fall. He has given himself 45 days to sound out potential donors and party leaders about a campaign.

Attentive readers of this blog and mine, Simply Left Behind, now have an explanation to this bizarre encounter we had two years ago. Not in a million years would I have imagined that it was leading up to this possibility, but the fact that he met with Joe Trippi in a quiet little restaurant (albeit not in the corner) certainly intimates Ford's intention to re-enter political life.

I'm not sure how I feel about this. Ford, you may recall, had his hopes for Senate in Tennessee dashed in part by a race-baiting TV ad. So to a degree, his candidacy in a state less predisposed to listen to hate-mongering and more disposed to listening to issues is sort of "get even." Too, he's an intelligent man with good ideas who is not as liberal as many would pick him out to be, so he could be a sale in areas of New York State that Hillary Clinton carried with surprising regularity.

On the other hand, Kirsten Gillibrand has not exactly been a horrible Senator. She is, however, somewhat tainted by her unfortunate and necessary association with Governor David Paterson, whose approval ratings are abysmal, even if they have softened somewhat these past few weeks, Gillibrand has also carried a lot of the water for the Democrats in the Senate, voting strictly along party lines despite being more conservative than the party in general.

Which is saying a lot, considering how far to the right the party has had to move to pass legislation this year.

This has the earmarks of a White House wishlist, between this trial balloon and the pressure President Obama has placed on Patterson to forgo re-election. Patterson has led an oddly charmed life since that pressure was made public: no one serious, it seems, wants to run against him, except perhaps Andrew Cuomo. Republicans have shunned the race like Puritans in a sex club marathon.

My guess is, the budget outlook is so bleak, no one wants to be the one left standing when the music stops. In this regard, Patterson will likely thrive into a second term, simply because he hasn't backed down from the challenge.

But I digress.

The potential for a Gillibrand-Ford lock-up in the primary is interesting. Ford would likely capture most of the lower counties, like the city, Westchester, and Long Island, while Gillibrand would run strongly in the central parts of the state, like the Leatherstocking district and the Hudson Valley.

So the toss-ups would be the university towns way up north, like Ithaca, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo. Those are a strange admixture of blue collar whites who have suffered mightily in this Bush depression, and scholarly-types. Ford appeals to both, to be sure, but Gillibrand's support amongst the working class folks would be hard to crack.

Look for pressure brought to bear on Gillibrand to quit the race, and perhaps lock horns with Patterson for the governor's chair, or an offer of a post that would be hard to turn down (ambassador or sub-Cabinet appointment). I don't think the state party wants to have this on their hands after the 2009 state Senate debacle.

(Cross-posted to Simply Left Behind.)

Will Ford challenge Gillibrand in New York?

By Michael J.W. Stickings

According to the Times, "Harold Ford Jr., the former congressman from Tennessee, is weighing a bid to unseat Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in this fall's Democratic primary."

I wasn't exactly much of a Gillibrand fan when Gov. David Paterson appointed her to replace Hillary Clinton last year, but my sense since then is that she's done fairly well.

And how is she any worse than Ford? (She certainly has her colleague Chuck Schumer's support, and that's huge.)

Does New York need yet another carpetbagger, and a centrist one at that, one with close ties to Wall Street and who is being pushed to run by prominent, NYC-oriented donors and insiders who don't like -- and look down upon -- Gillibrand's upstate credentials?

Well, that will be for New Yorkers to say, should Ford run, but my sense is that sticking with Gillibrand might not be such a bad thing.