Harold Ford's Tennessee Senate race could have political, racial implications beyond election

[DeepModem Mom]

LAT: Tennessee Senate race may reach beyond election
The Senate race might determine party power and could have political and racial implications beyond the election.
By Richard Fausset, Times Staff Writer
November 5, 2006

....The Democratic congressman is locked in a tight, nasty race against Republican Bob Corker, a popular former mayor of Chattanooga who is white....The outcome could determine which party controls the upper house of Congress. It also could have implications for race and American politics that extend beyond Tuesday's election. Bruce Oppenheimer, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University, said voters and political shot-callers might look to the election for clues about whether Southerners — and Americans in general — were comfortable electing black politicians to higher office.

Democrats, Oppenheimer said, will wonder about the chances of another high-profile black politician, Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, if he decides to run for president in 2008.

"If Ford loses, people will say, 'Here was this very attractive, moderate black candidate in a good year for Democratic candidates, and running against a Republican candidate who, although he had some money, was not something special,' " Oppenheimer said. "It might say something about whether there's still a glass ceiling for African American politicians."

Ford, a decade-long member of the House, is running on a center-right platform and has mostly tried to skirt the issue of race....

***

It has been difficult, however, for Ford to avoid the issue since Oct. 20, when Republicans introduced one of the season's most talked-about attack ads. In the 30-second TV spot, a bare-shouldered white woman coos "call me" to Ford — a reference to the Democrat's attendance at a Playboy-sponsored party. The ad has been pulled, but Republicans were accused of stirring up old Southern fears of miscegenation....

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-na-ford5nov05,0,7547016.story?track=mostviewed-homepage

[NEOBuckeye]

1. When all else fails, Republicans can still count on the Race Card

Perhaps in time, its power will fade below effectiveness. Unfortunately, there are still many people living with fear and hatred for diversity, out of ignorance.

[EFerrari]

3. More today than in the recent past thanks to Conservative hate talk

radio.

Did you get that first guy? "I'd vote for a black guy if he kids out the Mexicans."

Now, that's progress!

[Jeffersons Ghost]

6. lol, those freaks are so sick it's funny

[BlueManDude]

5. because it works - and not just in the south

deval patrick will likely win in mass but it will be a lot closer than people think.

[JI7]

2. and a white Southerner whose home state was tennessee lost it in 2000

this article is disgusting. of course there is racism but to use this as something against all minority candidates and whether they could win.

[EFerrari]

4. It is disgusting. I will not register there. Did they interview any

black voters on page two? I'd like to know what black voters think about electing one more whole black man to the Senate.