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With only hours to go before the polls close, former 9th District congressman Harold Ford Jr., now head of the Democratic Leadership Council, has joined in on the mounting chorus of criticism of recent TV ads by Nikki Tinker, who is challenging current incumbent Steve Cohen in today's Democratic primary. Ford's statement is as follows: "Whenever race, religion or gender is invoked in a political contest, it generally means the candidate has run out of legitimate arguments for why he/she should be elected. Communities and nations are always made weaker when political figures try to divide us for political advantage....

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq (Oct. 12, 2007) -- Minutes away from the armed gates that lead into the villages and cities of Iraq’s Al Anbar Province, Marines work long hours, supplying units with everyday essentials and gear needed for combat. Without their hard work and tireless dedication, war efforts would slow, transition would start to backslide and progress would halt. Without them, units would struggle to get by, and though this job does not come with many purple hearts or combat action ribbons, those who work here know they are the bloodline to the mission in Iraq. The Marines of Multi...

DALLAS, Sept. 20, 2007 – Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose family’s name is part and parcel with American motorsports legend, will drive the Chevrolet the National Guard will sponsor in NASCAR’s top-level Sprint Cup series in 2008. Dale Earnhardt Jr. (left) will drive the National Guard car next year in NASCARS’s top-level Sprint Cup series for Hendrick Motorsports. He stood with Lt. Gen. Clyde Vaughn, director of the Army National Guard, and Rick Hendrick, Hendrick Motorsports owner, in Dallas where the announcement was made on Sept. 19, 2007. Photo by Master Sgt. Bob Haskell, USA  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image...

A prominent black Christian pastor says Barack Obama (D-Illinois) made "an inept attempt to be a theology major" in Thursday night's Democratic presidential forum on homosexual issues. During Thursday's forum, Obama was asked by one of the moderators why many black churches remain strongly opposed to homosexuality. Moderator Jonathan Capeheart of the Washington Post then referred to such opposition as "homophobia." Obama responded to the question by saying some black pastors "have elevated one line of Romans over the Sermon on the Mount." Bishop Harry Jackson Jr., who chairs the High Impact Leadership Coalition, says Obama is an intelligent man...

NASHVILLE — Former Democratic U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. has been named a vice chairman and senior policy adviser at Merrill Lynch & Co., the biggest U.S. retail brokerage, the company announced today. The 37-year-old Ford, who lost a narrow U.S. Senate race last year to Republican Bob Corker, will advise senior management on domestic policy issues, serve as a member of the company’s public policy committee and work on business development initiatives among other things, the company said. He will maintain offices in Nashville and New York. "We are delighted to have a dynamic, energetic visionary like Harold Ford...

A series of concerts "bigger than Live Aid" is being planned for July, in a bid to put the subject of climate change before an audience of a global audience of 2bn. The event, scheduled for July 7, will feature co-ordinated film, music and television events in seven cities including London, Washington DC, Shanghai, Rio de Janeiro, Cape Town and Kyoto, with major broadcasters and media owners aiming to extend the reach of public awareness of global warming. It is understood that former US vice-president Al Gore, whose movie An Inconvenient Truth brought climate change to cinema audiences last year,...

NASHVILLE — Former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. said a campaign against Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander in 2008 is the last thing on his mind. "I have no plans," Ford said Tuesday after a Martin Luther King Jr. Day celebration with Gov. Phil Bredesen. Ford did not completely rule out a Senate bid, however. Ford, a 36-year-old Democrat, lost to Republican Bob Corker in his bid for the U.S. Senate seat vacated by Republican Bill Frist by less than 3 percentage points. Many Democrats are urging him to run for another office. Vanderbilt University announced on Monday that Ford had...

MEMPHIS - While running for the U.S. Senate, Democrat Harold Ford Jr. became a national political celebrity and got on the cover of Newsweek magazine. But he couldn't get into the U.S. Senate, losing to the lower-key Republican Bob Corker. Now people in Tennessee are wondering what's next for the charismatic, handsome and soon-to-be former congressman from Memphis. "Whatever it is, it's going to be big and it's going to be soon," Tennessee Democratic Party Chairman Bob Tuke said. Ford, trying to become the first Southern black candidate elected to the Senate since the 1870s, lost by less than 3...

The 20-something blonde who winked into the camera and asked now-defeated U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. to "call me" isn't a bimbo, she says, she just played one on TV. Johanna Goldsmith, an Austin, Texas, actor whose appearance in an anti-Ford ad touched off a national political and racial firestorm, was contractually barred from interviews until after Election Day. She spoke to The Tennessean by cell phone today as she drove to work, car-pooling with her mother. In addition to acting, Goldsmith also translates Spanish for a Texas doctors association. She says she's "more of a conservative, quiet person"...

39% of polls reporting Corker 45% Junior 48%

The U.S. Senate candidates spent Monday campaigning in Knoxville — Bob Corker with some of the top guns of the GOP and Democrat Harold Ford Jr. at "shake-and-howdy" at Calhoun’s at Bearden. Both events each drew about 100 enthusiastic supporters. Corker’s campaign stop featured Sens. John McCain of Arizona, Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, Lamar Alexander of Tennessee and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. Corker, former Chattanooga mayor, and U.S. Rep. Ford of Memphis are vying for Frist’s seat; Frist is vacating the Senate to consider a race for the White House in 2008. The election is Tuesday. Despite the dominance...

JUNIOR's tax HIKE votes:Tax Hike JUNIOR NRSC: Tax Hike Harold Ford Puts Coal in Tennesseans Stockings BAH, HUMBUG!: HAROLD “SCROOGE” FORD VOTES TO END TAX RELIEF FOR TENNESSEANS “Tennesseans just got a nice Christmas present from Tax Hike Harold Ford.” – Brian Nick, NRSC Spokesman TODAY, CONGRESSMAN HAROLD FORD, JR. VOTED AGAINST EXTENDING TAX RELIEF FOR THE HARD-WORKING PEOPLE OF TENNESSEE Ford Voted Against The “Tax Relief Extension Act” That Extends Tennessee’s Federal Sales Tax Deduction. (H.R. 4297, CQ Vote #621: Passed 234-197: R 225-3; D 9-193; I 0-1, December 8, 2005, Ford Voted Nay) * The Reconciliation Bill Included...

We can't post the article due to lawsuits. Click here to read who in HollyWIERD supports JUNIOR

In response to one rather belligerently presented challenge and several curious inquiries following a recent confession by yours truly to voting bias toward losers, here's a last-minute suggestion of the loser-lovers' ticket: Jim Bryson for governor, Harold Ford Jr. for U.S. Senate, no on Amendment 1 and amendment 2 to our state Constitution. And let's throw in a couple of predictions: Democrats gain two seats in the state House, one in the Senate. Here's why: Bryson has little going for him except baseline, yellow-elephant Republicanism (worth about 33 percent of the statewide vote) and a handful of Bredesen-irritated Democrats, independents...

KNOXVILLE - Harold Ford Jr.'s state campaign chairman, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, once vowed that no Republican would ever "out-pray me or out-family me." It's a lesson Ford has taken seriously. The Democratic Senate candidate quotes Scripture, citing chapter and verse, at nearly every stop on the campaign trail, and he filmed a TV campaign ad from his home church in Memphis. He started his campaign Saturday at a prayer breakfast in Johnson City, in the state's northeastern corner, and bowed his head as more than 15 ministers laid hands on him and prayed for his election. "I just believe...

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. - In a U.S. Senate race already dominated by verbal jabs and punches, the Republican and Democratic candidates each blamed the other Friday for initiating the negative tone. "My opponent is willing to do anything, say anything and spend any amount of money to stop change," Democrat Harold Ford Jr. said at a Hendersonville campaign stop. Republican Bob Corker said during a visit to a Memphis lunch spot that he poured $2 million of his own money into the campaign to counter attacks from national Democratic organizations eager to regain control of the U.S. Senate. He blamed Ford...

Two new polls were released Thursday in Tennessee's U.S. Senate race, with one putting Bob Corker ahead with a substantial lead and the second putting Harold Ford Jr. on top. The Reuters/Zogby poll showed GOP nominee Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor, leading with 53 percent of the vote. Democratic nominee Ford, a U.S. representative, trailed with 43 percent. In the second poll, Ford led with 46 percent of the vote, compared with 40 percent for Corker. The Reuters/Zogby poll was conducted Oct. 24-30 and has a 4-point margin of error. A similar Reuters/Zogby poll in early October showed the two...

It was a revival of sorts. Former president Bill Clinton's speech to nearly 4,000 Harold Ford Jr. supporters at a Memphis church Wednesday echoed a time when Democrats had the Oval Office and the nation experienced an extended period of economic growth. But the mood just before he spoke at the Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ evoked scenes of gospel- and hosanna-filled Sunday services. The party faithful swayed, sang, waved signs and chanted "Harold Ford" and later "We love Bill." One woman swooned and spoke in tongues. Ford stepped center-stage to introduce Clinton, looked out over the...

NASHVILLE -- The Iraq war and racism form the raw bookends of the tight U.S. Senate race in Tennessee, which could be historically significant and could make or break the Democrats' campaign to take over the upper chamber of Congress.Iraq is the dominant issue, voters told a recent McClatchy-MSNBC poll. And the Democratic candidate, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., 36, would be the first black U.S. senator from the South since Reconstruction. He says U.S. policy in Iraq isn't working and endorses splitting the nation into three semiautonomous regions -- for Sunni Muslim Arabs, Shiite Muslims and Sunni Kurds --...

Is the Democrat running for Senate in Tennessee just wearing a pro-life costume? “I'm pro-life, I'm pro-life, Tucker, so I mean, I don’t run from that.” So Congressman Harold Ford Jr. told MSNBC’s Tucker Carlson on Monday. It’s often been taken as a given that the attractive, smart, affable Ford is pro-life. On Fox News Sunday this past weekend Chris Wallace stated flatly in addressing Ford, “You are pro-life.” But is Congressman Ford pro-life? His record suggests otherwise. According to the National Right to Life Committee, Ford’s claim to be pro-life “is radically at odds with Ford’s 10-year voting record...