Ford faces family trouble amid Senate bid
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The U.S. representative has spent much of his political career trying to distinguish himself from his powerful — and occasionally scandalous — Memphis political family. But now many wonder how Ford, considered a rising star among Democrats, will overcome the latest hurdle.
His uncle, 63-year-old state Sen. John Ford, had faced questions about his ethics for years, but the scrutiny took on national prominence when he was arrested last month on bribery and extortion charges following an FBI sting operation.
Overcoming the family notoriety is not the only challenge the younger Ford, who is 35, will face in trying to woo voters over the next 18 months.
A black candidate has never won a major statewide office in Tennessee. And no Southern state has elected a black U.S. senator since Reconstruction.
Despite it all, Republicans fret over Ford’s potential like no other Democrat seeking the seat being vacated by Majority Leader Bill Frist.
“With his entry in this race it is all the more important we elect a credible Republican candidate,” said Sonny Scott, a political consultant working with former U.S. Rep. Ed Bryant’s Senate campaign for the GOP nomination.
Scott predicted the political fallout from John Ford’s arrest “will be minimal in that … Harold Ford Jr. is his own man with his own record.”
Other Republican hopefuls at this point include former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker and former congressman Van Hilleary of Murfreesboro. Hilleary was the GOP gubernatorial nominee who lost to Gov. Phil Bredesen in 2002.
Democrats saw Harold Ford’s potential five years ago when then-presidential candidate and fellow Tennessean Al Gore asked him to deliver the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention.
As always, Ford impressed. He’s young, handsome, well-spoken and can get a crowd going. He’s carefully positioned himself as a moderate Democrat, skilled at pitching a conservative-leaning message many think could play well among a range of voters.
He has supported President Bush’s capital gains tax cuts, a constitutional amendment protecting school prayer and has an anti-abortion voting record. He’s also spoken out strongly in support of the military’s effort in Iraq, and sided with “Blue Dog” Democrats on reducing the federal deficit.
And he has never been accused of any wrongdoing.
“I don’t have anything to be ashamed of. There’s nothing not positive about my candidacy and about me,” Ford said last week. “I think if I switched parties, the Republicans might anoint me senator.”
His sole opponent for the Democratic nomination at this point is state Sen. Rosalind Kurita of Clarksville.
Democrats are beaming about Ford’s candidacy, despite the obvious obstacles caused by his uncle — and even though Ford comes from Memphis. The predominantly black community is politically and culturally the opposite of eastern Tennessee, which borders the Appalachian Mountains.
After all, cities such as Kingsport in eastern Tennessee are closer to Canada than they are to Memphis.
“It is very, very different — almost night and day in many regards,” said Elmer “Butch” Helton Jr., a local Democratic Party chairman in Pigeon Forge, just outside Gatlinburg.
Helton said Republicans outnumber Democrats 11-1 in rural Sevier County, and there are only about 1,000 blacks out of a population of roughly 70,000.
“That is a problem, but I think the congressman, with the things he’s accomplished, can show that race is not issue,” Helton said. “It is incumbent on him to cater to all Tennesseans, not just Memphis or African-Americans, but everyone.”
Despite all of that, Ford’s biggest opponent could very well be his high-profile uncle.
“It certainly doesn’t help his race for the Senate,” said Robert Swansbrough, a political science professor at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. “Clearly, it’s not Harold Ford Jr. caught in this whole issue, but it obviously raises a cloud over the Ford family name.”
Federal agents arrested John Ford, a state senator for three decades, and three other lawmakers in late May. Prosecutors say Ford took $55,000 from undercover operatives portraying themselves as businessmen seeking favorable legislation.
Ford, in his customary, blustery defiance, suggested last week that federal authorities timed his arrest to spoil his nephew’s U.S. Senate announcement that came a day earlier.
Democratic officials winced at the assertion.
“I would have preferred for that not to happen,” Harold Ford said of uncle’s comment. “But we don’t live in a perfect world.”
Republicans have yet to go after the younger Ford on his family connection, in part because they are locked in a tough primary fight. Swansbrough said he expects such attacks to come. “There’s no way they would let this die.”
Clearly there have been times his family name has helped.
Ford’s campaign buttons in 1996 simply said “Jr.” when he ran for the House seat his father had held for 22 years.
Ford won despite apparent family troubles at that time. His father had recently been cleared after a 10-year federal investigation and two trials into charges that the older Ford accepted $1.2 million in bogus loans from two political supporters.
Harold Ford said he’s proud of his name and believes it will help, pointing to early polls showing any of his potential Republican opponents would have trouble against him.
“My name is bigger than anyone else’s in the race,” he said. “Now we have on more layer to overcome, and I think it’s overcomeable.”
Ford family political highlights at a glance
TRAILBLAZERS: Harold Ford Sr. was the state’s first black congressman when elected in 1974. The same year, brother John Ford was elected to the Tennessee Senate and brother Emmett Ford wins a seat in the state House.
ALL IN THE FAMILY: The Ford family built one of the most active political organizations in Memphis history, and uncles and cousins have held a number of local offices in Shelby County.
JUNIOR — Harold Ford Jr. wins his father’s Ninth House district in 1996 at age 26, and makes a name for himself as a well-spoken, moderate voice of young Democrats. His Senate bid for 2006 could make him the first black statewide officeholder since Reconstruction.
SCANDAL: Even before his arrest this year in an FBI sting, John Ford made headlines for ethical lapses and minor run-ins with authorities. Harold Ford Sr. was indicted in 1987 for bank fraud. He was acquitted in 1993 following two trials.