Does Harold Sr Still Have Enough Political Juice Left?

Harold Sr is back in town. I hear he's at Jr/Jakes' headquaters working on campaign strategy and GOTV for Jake and Jr. It has been a while since Sr has worked this hard in a political race in Memphis. A lot of things have changed in 10 years. The most of important of which is the rise of the Herenton/Chism political machine. Even a year ago, the Fords were in a much better position locally, but term limits and Tennessee Waltz has taken its toll. In a desperate move to hold on to political power, Jake is running for the 9th Congressional seat as an independent and hooking his cart to the Jr Senatorial campaign. The very fact that Sr came back to be this active in the local campaigns illustrate how much Ford blood has chummed the political water. The Fords have made it them against the world and all the sharks are out. Herenton, Wharton, Cohen, the Democratic Party, and almost all the bloggers are opposed to Jake candidacy to such a degree that they are now threatening to withhold support from Jr.

Some people are motivated to withhold support for Jr because of a feeling of distrust. Over a year ago, a small group of Democratic activist were arguing Jr was a Ford and only out for Jr. He couldn't get it through his head that we are not beholden to vote for him simply because he is a Ford. Keep in mind nobody asked him to run for Senator. He decided to do this in 2000 and he used his family's political influence to block other candidates from getting into the race. The one candidate who did get in the race was Kurita and he got enough pressure put on her donors and campaign to force her out before the primary. Did you, as a Democratic primary voter, ever have a choice to not have Jr as the nominee? Now with this episode, the curtain has been drawn back. It is plain to see Jr doesn't care about the party. He only cares about his political plan to someday get a Vice Presidential nomination. Remember that this is the same Jr who, after the 2002 election and the well known fact that Gephardt was leaving, was the first to stab Gephardt in the back and challenge Nancy Pelosi for minority leader. He also flirted with Bush on Social Security privatization, fawned over GWB at the state of the union, and uses GOP talking points that undermines his own party's positions. Fortunately, enough people in the Democratic Party knew how untrustworthy Jr was and he didn't get the leadership position. So what are you Democrats who supported Jr and Cohen going to do? You are certainly in fix. By supporting Jr, you are giving aid to Jake's attempt to defeat Cohen. All of which is to keep the Ford machine alive and cranking out continued political dysfunction. Jr/Cohen supporters will rationalize to themselves that so much is at stake, control of the Senate, maybe we should just vote for Jr anyway. Snap! That was the trap Jr has been counting on. No matter what he and his lunatic family does, you still have to vote for him and his perfidious ways.

Others are motivated for much more pragmatic reasons, destruction of the Ford machine. The change in the past year has been stark. In April of 2005, if you would have said the political power relation between Herenton/Chism and the Fords would have been completely inverted, people would have laughed. But it has happened and the Fords are close to political extinction as a machine. How many friends do the Fords have left? They have alienated and embarrassed everyone. More importantly, who still fears the Ford machine? No one. A lot of people only hold resentment of the Fords and if it costs Democratic control of the Senate to break the remnants of their machine so be it and good riddance. That's why Sr is back in town getting personally involved. Think about how many people’s interest is served by the destruction of the Ford machine. Sure the Herenton/Chism faction will be ascendant but they’re both old. Once Herenton and Chism are gone, it is a political free for all. Yet Fords, because their machine is based on family, could last for generations. Hell, it already has. November is the best chance to break the Fords’ political back and be done with them.

So Sr, you’re back in town. Do you have enough juice to stem the political tides? I guess we will all see in November. Just remember, its not 1996 anymore. Jr is running in a statewide race and the news travels fast via the local and national blogs. The Cohen/Jake congressional race is starting to get national attention. Are you really willing to pull out the race baiting tactics so Jake can win, but alienate those white, suburban voters Jr has been so carefully courting around the state? One little “white devils” slip of the tongue by the Jake campaign and $3 million worth of Jr campaigning goes down the drain.