The shift of a few thousand votes would have put Ford in the Senate at the same time as Obama. Ironically, Ford might have become the “light-skinned Negro” that the Democrats chose to put in the White House. Ford is at least verifiably American.
I don’t recall it being that close, but it looks like it was 3 percentage points. That is close enough.
I used to listen to Ford on “Imus in the Morning” where he played the “moderate” Democrat. Imus loved pumping that “independent voter”, not Dem, not Repub, stuff.
Ford talked a good game, but he was from a corrupt family in one of the most politically corrupt congressional district’s in the country.