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Alexander's term expires soon, but the challenge is formidable NASHVILLE -- If U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. decides to run again for the Senate in 2008, he'll find a different political landscape. And it could be less hospitable, political experts say. Even so, the Memphis Democrat's loss by only 2.7 percentage points -- 49,935 votes -- to Republican Bob Corker last month would still leave him a viable candidate to take on Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., whose first term ends in two years. Ford said he hasn't made his mind up yet about what he'll do when his 10-year career...

NASHVILLE -- Political scientists and pollsters will be watching the outcome of Tennessee's U.S. Senate race for more reasons than its historic aspects and its role in deciding which party controls Congress. They'll also be studying whether white voters still tell pollsters they'll vote for a black candidate -- and then don't. Whether that comes into play, or to what degree, could help determine whether Democrat Harold Ford Jr. becomes the first black person elected to the Senate from the South since Reconstruction. Most polling since September has shown the race neck-and-neck within the surveys' margin of error. A CNN...

Referring to an RNC ad as the "Mehlman cesspool," Chris Matthews was being non-partisan. Really - he told us so! On this afternoon's Hardball, Matthews interviewed Rep. Harold Ford, Jr., Dem candidate for senator from Tennessee. The first topic up was an ad the RNC is currently running using actors to tweak Ford on his positions on a variety of issues, from taxes to gun control to North Korea. The ad also alludes to the fact that Ford attended a Playboy party at the Super Bowl in Jacksonville in 2005.At the ad's end, an alluring woman saying she met Harold...

U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. shares more than a name with his father. The two also share an intense interest in some of the same social and political issues -- the younger as a legislator, the elder as a lobbyist. But when those two paths cross, political experts say, the result is an uncomfortable relationship that raises questions of impropriety. Public records obtained by The Commercial Appeal show that Congressman Ford took a paid trip funded by one of his father's clients, Pegasus Airwave, a medical supply company with offices in Boca Raton, Fla. While federal records of gifts of...

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which says it represents more than 3 million businesses, today endorsed Republican Bob Corker for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee and criticized the 10-year voting record of his challenger, Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. Chamber vice president Bill Miller said the Chamber's board endorsed Corker based on his background of starting his own business, being familiar with regulatory issues as Chattanooga's mayor, and his views on lower taxes, legal and health care reforms. "Bob Corker really exemplifies a self-made business person," Miller said in a conference call with several Tennessee reporters. Ford...

Ford Jr. (Mr. Slick) was jeered, while Dr. Frist was cheered in Nashville.

Republicans ceased senatorial sniping at one another Friday and turned their rhetorical guns on Harold Ford Jr., who fired back while a national Democratic figure suggested that GOP wounds remain unhealed. A review of the results in Thursday's primary elections indicates that both sides have some reason for unease in their own base party vote as Republican nominee Bob Corker heads into what will surely be a bitter, bruising and extraordinarily expensive fight for the Senate seat now held by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Besides the two combatants themselves, those joining in the verbal fray in a series of...

State Sen. Steve Cohen won Thursday’s Democratic primary in the Ninth Congressional District. With all precincts reporting, Cohen had 23,570 votes. Nikki Tinker, who conceded about 10:30 p.m., was second with 19,132. She was followed by Joe Ford Jr. with 9,329, Shelby County Commissioner Julian Bolton with 8,050 and Ed Stanton with 6,920. Mark White easily won the Republican primary, collecting 12,013 votes to Tom Guleff’s 2,927 Cohen and White will face independent candidate Jake Ford in the November general election for the seat left open by U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s bid for the U.S. Senate. Jake Ford is...

Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker is headed for a U.S. Senate showdown with Democrat Harold Ford Jr. in November after sweeping to the Republican nomination on Thursday night. Corker celebrated the win for the seat now held by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist at the Sheraton Read House in Chattanooga. He had fought a bloody primary against former Congressmen Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary, who made concession speeches. In Hamilton County, Corker piled up 20,555 votes to 5,863 for Bryant and 3,919 for Hilleary. The Nashville Tennessean, with 1,762 of 2,432 precincts statewide reporting, had Corker at 175,092, Bryant at...

On the eve of primary voting, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. challenged the winner of today's Republican Senate primary to a series of debates across the state. "I'll meet 'em in Chattanooga, I'll meet 'em in Murfreesboro, I'll meet 'em in Jackson," Ford, the presumptive Democratic nominee, told more than 200 delirious supporters Wednesday at a fund-raiser in the lobby of the historic Tennessee Theatre. <A TARGET="_blank" HREF="http://adsremote.scripps.com/event.ng/Type=click&FlightID=2033922&AdID=2041452&TargetID=2019991&Targets=2011020,2003385,2020041,2011361,2011448,2019991,2011669,2019127&RawValues=&Redirect=http:%2f%2fwww.advertisersite.com"><IMG SRC="http://images.scripps.com/1x1.gif" WIDTH=336 HEIGHT=280 BORDER=0></A> Afterward, as he left the building to return to Memphis, Ford said he hopes the Republican nominee - Ed Bryant, Bob Corker or Van Hilleary - will take...

HENDERSONVILLE, Tenn. -- Ed Bryant called on supporters in the pro-life, home-school and other conservative groups to help turn out a large vote for him in Thursday's Republican primary, warning that GOP control of Congress is at stake. "Go out and go the extra mile for this campaign and make sure we finish in first place. We're going to win. Carry the message out there that we literally could lose control of the United States Senate if we don't win in Tennessee. "And we won't win in Tennessee -- we'll lose this race to Congressman Ford, the Democrat -- if...

MEMPHIS — John Ford’s trial in the Tennessee Waltz public corruption scandal has been postponed from campaign season until next February, his lawyer said Monday. Attorney Michael Scholl said the trial, originally scheduled for Oct. 2, has been reset for Feb. 5. Ford, a former state senator, is charged with extortion, bribery and threatening a government witness and accused of taking $55,000 in bribes. "We needed additional time to go over discovery matter," Scholl said. "We’re still going through tapes provided by the prosecutors." Scholl said the rescheduling had nothing to do with the fact that Ford’s nephew, Harold Ford...

A fund-raiser for U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, will be 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Tennessee Theatre, a major event in an election that is drawing national attention. Those contributing will be "credited" for another event in Nashville on Thursday, Election Day, where former President Bill Clinton will join Ford at LP Field, the Titans' stadium, for a "road to victory" rally. The cost for the Knoxville reception is $150 as a patron, $1,000 as a sponsor and $5,000 as a host. Gov. Phil Bredesen is expected to attend the Knoxville reception, said state...

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - A Memphis judge said the ex-wife of former state senator John Ford has an "attitude problem" and ordered her to spend the weekend in jail for violating her probation. Tamara Mitchell-Ford, 42, has a year left on a three-year probation she was sentenced to after a 2001 incident in which she rammed her Jaguar into the home of Connie Mathews, who has two children by John Ford. "She has an attitude problem and an anger problem," said Criminal Court Judge Arthur Bennett at a hearing Friday to determine whether Mitchell-Ford failed to report to her probation...

Republican Bob Corker reported giving another $420,000 in personal money to his U.S. Senate campaign on Thursday, while Van Hilleary belatedly filed a personal disclosure revealing $336,000 in income from a Washington law and lobbying firm. Corker's latest contribution to his own campaign brings his total self-funding to almost $2.2 million. As of July 14, Corker had also reported raising $6.5 million from others. The total of $8.7 million puts Corker on track toward setting a record for spending on a U.S. Senate campaign in Tennessee. That will almost certainly be the case if he wins the Aug. 3 primary....

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Bob Corker traveled to Washington on Tuesday to collect contributions from political action committees and others, prompting opponents in both political parties to accuse him of hypocrisy. As campaigns of both major primary foes noted, Corker has made a theme of referring to Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary - former congressmen who have both served as lobbyists - as "Washington insiders" and "career politicians." U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., the presumptive Democratic Senate nominee, said Corker "has been the loudest" of all Republicans in criticizing him for raising money outside of Tennessee. "Hypocrisy, thy name is...

With Bob Corker the frontrunner in both polls and funding, his major opponents in the Republican U.S. Senate primary have opened new lines of attack with the election just 10 days away. Van Hilleary on Monday launched a new television ad that says Corker is "running a cowardly smear campaign" in contrast to the "honorable campaign" by Hilleary, who "served our country with honor in combat." Ed Bryant, meanwhile, is trying to turn the tables on Corker's claim that his opponents, both former congressmen, "cashed in" on their service in elective office by becoming lobbyists. Corker-owned property in Chattanooga, Bryant...

A University of Tennessee poll conducted earlier this month shows Bob Corker holds leads over his Republican primary rivals and Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. in the state's U.S. Senate race, though one in five voters is undecided. Races between Ford, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and Corker's Republican opponents, former congressmen Van Hilleary and Ed Bryant, would be a statistical dead-heat, according to the poll of 501 registered voters. Corker's GOP opponents say the polling is flawed and conducted before their own television ads have had a chance to take effect. Corker, former mayor of Chattanooga, is the preference...

WASHINGTON - Tennessee's Senate race has caught the attention of national political parties because some observers think the contest could determine who controls the U.S. Senate. Democrats need to pick up six seats to win control of the Senate, and under many scenarios, the Tennessee race would be a crucial part of the electoral math. The seat is open because Republican Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is stepping down to keep a term-limit pledge and weigh a presidential run. The likely Democratic nominee, Rep. Harold Ford, is a Memphis Democrat hoping to move from the House to the Senate. He...

The debate you might see among the three Republican U.S. Senate candidates if Democrat Harold Ford Jr. were thrown in for added entertainment value: The moderator would begin by explaining the rules, namely that the candidates will take turns posing questions, which may be directed at one of the other candidates, though each will have an opportunity to respond. The moderator would intervene only when he deems - in his sole and exclusive judgment - that moderation is in order. The right to ask the opening question, reasonably, is determined by a random drawing that Ed Bryant won. After that,...