I don’t know about that. Mind you, I dislike Harold Ford Jr because he’s liberal.
More than race, although it surely did help along with his last name, but I think his personality is his draw (which works wonders on the dims). He’s as slick a politician as you’ll find. Close you eyes sometimes and you’d think it was a conservative talking (Depending on the situation of course).
Even Ann Coulter likes him (for a dim) and backed him in the Senate race... whatever that’s worth.
Ford differed from the mainstream of his party on one or two issues where the Democratic position was unpopular in Tennessee, but his overall voting record was as liberal as they come, I believe. If Ann Coulter thought it would be better to have him in the Senate instead of a Republican who would vote the right way most of the time, I don’t follow her reasoning...maybe it was pique at a less conservative Republican winning the primary (because two conservatives competed for the more conservative voters).