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This belongs to you. Take it back...
Harold Ford 
Fri Feb 05, 2010 at 22:13:33 PM EST
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Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer has lately emerged from his time-with-the-family decent interval with online and cable TV commentary about the need for better regulation of Wall Street.
And Spitzer is also dropping hints that he may join Harold Ford of Tennessee, Merrill Lynch, the DLC, NBC and the Park Avenue Regency in challenging the excellent Senator Kirsten Gillibrand this year.
According to Lloyd Grove of the Daily Beast, "Spitzer is making fresh noises about running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in New York."
Grove notes that Spitzer is trying to exorcise his prostitute-ridden past by talking somewhat openly about it in a Big Think interview, and that his media profile rose with his appearance this week on The Colbert Report.
Details, below.
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Thu Feb 04, 2010 at 14:12:19 PM EST
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Harold Ford of Tennessee, Merrill Lynch, the DLC, NBC and the Park Avenue Regency has, allegedly, only hired flacks so far in his Bloomberg-sponsored and funded campaign to unseat the excellent Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Davidson Goldin is the basic campaign flack, hurling insults at Gillibrand at every opportunity, and Tammy Sun will be filling in for him for two weeks while he's honeymooning, and may work for the campaign once it staffs up.
Goldin has been a nasty attack-dog flack from Day 1, and a fibber several times. He also flacked for state Sen. Hiram Monserrate, who will soon be booted from the Senate for a vicious assault on a woman friend.
Sun was press secretary for Joe LIEberman in his 2006 general election campaign, when LIEberman well earned having the first three letters of his name capitalized.
Details, below.
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Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 14:11:01 PM EST
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Karl Rove was talking to the Memphis Daily News about Rove's book and current political news. When asked about Harold Ford Jr. (right after Rove called healthcare "part of a more toxic, larger stew the Democrats have created") Rove had nothing but glowing things to say about the crypto-Republican from Tennessee turned erstwhile "Democratic" candidate and Wall Street baron:
"He's a guy with a lot of intelligence and a lot of drive and ambition, and (incumbent Democratic New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand is) a weak candidate. We'll see how it plays out. He's an aggressive campaigner.
He's had a few missteps here at the beginning, but ... (Ford) is an articulate, attractive candidate who can sway crowds.
As if that weren't bad enough, he goes on to repeat the same talking points Ford has been using about New York embracing "candidates who've moved in from elsewhere" like Clinton and Robert F. Kennedy.
My takeaway from this is two things: one, like the Lieberman situation in Connecticut, the Republicans realize they have no chance with one of their own, so intend to tacitly back the most conservative Democrat available to them. And two, that if Karl Rove is endorsing a Democrat in order to try and get rid of her, Senator Gillibrand certainly must be doing a lot of things right.
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Mon Feb 01, 2010 at 12:05:40 PM EST
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand has received scores of endorsements, literally too many to list here, for her election campaign this year.
Many of them came via press release, many more via a joint press conference. The endorsement of longtime Manhattan Assemblyman Richard Gottfried, a progressive lion of the Assembly, will officially happen at a press conference today, but Gottfried previewed it in City Hall over the weekend
Gottfried's pluses for Gillibrand, and minuses for Helicopter Harold Ford, below.
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Sat Jan 30, 2010 at 18:59:52 PM EST
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A little bird happened to hand me a copy of a letter sent by Buffalo area Assemblyman Mark Schroeder to one of his compatriots, Assemblyman Vito Lopez. It quite nicely lays out just a few of the reasons why the other half of New York State needs a little representation.
January 19, 2010
Hon. Vito Lopez, Chairman
Brooklyn Democratic Committee
Brooklyn, New York
Dear Vito:
You are my dear friend and Assembly colleague. However, this letter is pertaining to your role as a Democratic County Leader.
Recently, there have been reports of your interest in the candidacy of a New York City resident against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Allow me to point out that Senator Gillibrand is the first upstate democratic United States Senator since 1938.
Moreover, every single leadership position in this state is from downstate:
Governor - Harlem
Lieutenant Governor - MTA Region
Attorney General - Queens
Comptroller - Long Island
Speaker - Manhattan
Senate Leaders of the Day - Queens, Brooklyn, and East Bronx
U.S. Senator Schumer - Brooklyn
Vito, please reconsider your position. I would appreciate your support of Senator Gillibrand.
Sincerely,
Mark J.F. Schroeder
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Fri Jan 29, 2010 at 15:50:54 PM EST
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Where can you find Harold Ford between Ashley Dupré and Larry Kudlow?
On Page Six, of course.
We [columnist Cindy Adams and then-freshly-defeated ex-Congressman Ford] first talked October 2008, right after he'd proposed to fashionista Emily Threlkeld, who was in Paris for the collections. Tennessee's former-congressman-turned-New York businessman had flown there and booked a Champagne engagement party with friends at the Ritz. His future fiancée arrived late and announced she had to leave him flat to rush back to her hotel for a charger because her cell was dying. But first he gave her a ring. Second, he called me.
Leaving aside the question of what kind of a press whore calls Cindy Adams right after handing over the ring, maybe some people in New York don't know all that much about the Hotel Ritz other than the reputation it has.
This is the Hotel Ritz in Paris on the Place Vendome.
The Ritz is one of the most expensive and exclusive hotels in the world. Take a look, here. If you want to rent their most expensive suite, it'll set you back a cool $3,536 (as calculated from 2,550 Euros). That's for one night, and room service? That's extra.
Coney Island it ain't.
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Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 15:31:31 PM EST
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For three weeks now, the Harold Ford for Senator campaign has had free rein, with the eager support of the three NYC dailies, to run down Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
Gillibrand has gone about her work as Senator, and not responded to the daily attacks from Ford, his flack, and his clique of Manhattan multi-millionaire supporters.
Until today.
Maybe it was Ford's "parakeet" crack yesterday in Albany, or maybe it was just time.
Whatever, some Ford-bashing goodness from Senator Gillibrand, below.
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Tue Jan 26, 2010 at 08:14:00 AM EST
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Hilarious.
A lot of politicians flip-flop on the issues. What really puts Harold Ford at the head of the butt-sniffing chain is that he's not pulling this reversal in Clustermunch, Iowa... He's doing this in New York City, media capital of the world, where they keep all those little bits of tape that have recordings of what you said and did. Hell, there's a whole newspaper page dedicated to everything famous people do. Get a little huffy with the maître d' at Per Se tonight and by this time tomorrow they're picking bits of you out of Cindy Adams' stool!
...
So, for lifting your leg on New Yorkers and telling us it's just egg cream, you sir, are my Alpha Dog of The Week.
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Mon Jan 25, 2010 at 10:24:18 AM EST
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Today's New York Times contains the latest installment in the NYC media campaign to nominate and elect Helicopter Harold Ford of Tennessee, Merrill Lynch, the DLC, NBC, and the Park Avenue Regency as the junior Senator from New York, in place of the excellent Kirsten Gillibrand.
Ford got a freebie op-ed in the Times, to go along with the freebie op-eds he got in the Daily News and Post last week.
They are all glorified campaign lit, but the Times op-ed is more dishonest than the others, in that nowhere does it hint that Ford has been an all-but-declared candidate against Gillibrand since Jan. 6, when his campaign launched with the first of almost-daily puff pieces in the Times.
DINO details, below.
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Fri Jan 22, 2010 at 09:23:01 AM EST
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Today, as we celebrate the 37th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision, women still have to fight to protect their rights. That is why almost two hundred women's rights advocates and concerned citizens have signed this open letter to Harold Ford, Jr. letting him know that he will not get away with covering up his anti-choice record as he explores a Senate run against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
If you'd like to add your name to the list of signers, please sign your name at the ipetition here.
Full text of the letter and the list of signers is over the fold.
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Thu Jan 21, 2010 at 17:34:30 PM EST
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The NYC media's campaign to nominate and elect Harold Ford of Tennessee, Merrill Lynch, the DLC, MSNBC, and the Park Avenue Regency as the junior Senator from New York, in place of the excellent Kirsten Gillibrand, continued apace today with Ford "writing" an absurd op-ed for the New York Daily News.
The crux of this latest campaign piece is that Ford wants to be "an independent Democrat who puts the people of New York before the politicians in Albany and Washington."
Details, below.
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Mon Jan 18, 2010 at 17:48:46 PM EST
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I have to admit, I've been operating under the assumption that Harold Ford's press people are the same beltway-insider grossly overpriced consultant types that typically attach themselves to campaigns where the candidate's ego and pocketbook trump strategic sense. After all, anyone with a sense of honesty and an IQ greater than that of a fencepost could have told him that his campaign rollout was not going smoothly.
But apparently the consultants do know enough at least to recognize that his interview with the New York Times, despite the Times being friendly to him, still turned into an unmitigated clusterfuck.
The obvious solution would be to talk to the candidate, get some kind of message going, and determine whether the candidate's beliefs really fit the constituency.
Oh wait, silly me. That would be the right thing to do. No, in the world of overpaid political consultants with a win/loss record worse than the Buffalo Bills, the solution is simply to not talk about the issues.
From Edsel's latest interview in the NY Daily News, emphasis mine:
The interview - granted under the condition that the questions be limited to his rationale for running, and not issues - comes at the end of a rocky first week of buzz surrounding his potential candidacy.
Then Edsel has the actual brass to say this:
"This race isn't about feet, it's about issues," he said of ribbing he has taken on the web and elsewhere of his regular pedicures.
There can be only one response to this.
You mean the issues you refuse to discuss? I can understand your impulse--if I possessed your deeply held religious beliefs that abortion is evil, that gay people are second class citizens, and your support for unlimited bank bailouts and a downright Ayn Rand style system of non-taxation for the ultra-wealthy, I wouldn't want to admit to those things either.
But Harold, that black cloud of doom that's hanging over the head of your still unannounced campaign? That's not going away any time soon, and this sudden swerve in strategy just adds to the feeling that some of us are familiar with when we see a campaign in crash-and-burn mode. Except that your campaign didn't even get off the runway: it caught fire in the hanger.
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Fri Jan 15, 2010 at 11:34:38 AM EST
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The first statewide poll of the Democratic primary of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand vs. Helicopter Harold Ford shows Gillibrand ahead by 19.
The Marist poll of statewide Democrats found Gillibrand with 43, and Ford with 24.
Details, below.
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Thu Jan 14, 2010 at 17:59:07 PM EST
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Does anyone else remember the video clip show "Maximum Exposure" that used to run on late-night syndicated TV? They would put together an hour of home movies featuring people doing what were mostly incredibly stupid and/or dangerous things, and then you got to laugh at idiots getting their well deserved comeuppance.
That's how I'm feeling about Harold Ford's campaign right about now.
Anyone here has probably already seen the highlights of the Ford interview, but just in case you haven't: weekly pedicures, a one third cut in the corporate tax rate, running on support for the bailouts, helicopter tours of New York City, luxury boxes, capital gains tax cuts, breakfast every day at the Regency Hotel, chauffeured towncars, tax cuts for the ultra wealthy, and deregulation of Wall Street.
Think of the Times interview as depicting a more articulate George Bush, with slightly better taste, running in a Democratic primary.
Well, you can imagine what the reaction has been from the observers of politics both here in New York and around the country. But fortunately you don't have to, because really, you don't want to miss what's being said about it. CQ Politics described it as "How Not To Do the Profile Interview."
Tuesday's New York Times ran a fascinating interview of former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, conducted by Timesman Michael Barbaro.
I say "fascinating" as in "Oh, my God, I cannot believe Ford actually said these things to a reporter for The New York Times in the belief, or even hope, that they would help him win Democratic primary votes against an appointed senator."
The Daily Beast summed it up nicely:
It was the most embarrassing interview I've ever read by a politician not named Sarah Palin.
A little later after recounting just a few of the many, many, many tone-deaf statements Ford made:
By this point, one assumes, Ford's [press] flak is lying dead on the floor, having impaled himself with his BlackBerry.
One of the contributors over at FireDogLake defined it as "Harold Ford's Completely Insane Senate Campaign Launch."
I don't know if I've ever seen a worse rollout for a political campaign, or one more disconnected with the constituency needed to win, than what Harold Ford exhibited in today's New York Times.
Gawker put it even more bluntly: "New York Times Allows Harold Ford to Destroy Himself."
Remember how the New York Times' uncomfortable interview with Caroline Kennedy pretty much sank her Senate campaign? Hello, Harold Ford, welcome to New York!
I need to buck the trend, though. I'm really starting to see another side of Harold Ford, and I firmly think that he should continue to run for this seat.
After all, with all of extremely serious political fights going on out there right now, the late night comedy writers could use some easy material.
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Wed Jan 13, 2010 at 12:45:13 PM EST
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You can't run on everything. Here's what will work:
Merrill Lynch/Bank of America Vice Chairman and NRA member Harold Ford Jr. is out of touch with the hard-working Democrats in New York. Ford, who is driven to work every day in a chauffeured car paid for by General Electric, has a helicopter as a primary mode of transportation, at a time when many New Yorkers cant even afford to fix their clunker or take the Subway.
Ford, a lifelong resident of Tennessee, is against women's reproductive rights, opposes health care and banking reform, and wants police officers to spend their valuable time chasing down Mexicans rather than investigating murders. He is out of touch with New York, out of touch with the middle class, and out of touch with the Democratic Party.
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Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 20:55:18 PM EST
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Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand's election campaign is now, remarkably, the hottest political story in the NYC media.
There have been stories every day about it in the New York Times, the Daily News and the Post, ever since the Times launched Harold Ford's unofficial primary campaign last Wednesday.
The best place to keep up is Liz Benjamin's The Daily Politics blog at the Daily News.
Where, outside of links in her comprehensive aggregation posts, there were 10 blog stories about the race today.
What Liz had, below.
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Mon Jan 11, 2010 at 14:21:48 PM EST
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I just wanted to clear something up: some people seem to be interpreting the flood of invective coming at Harold Ford out of the NY blogosphere, and particularly from supporters of Senator Gillibrand, as being evidence that Ford's possibly entry into the race worries us.
It's not. It's because the entire prospect of Ford running makes us feel like Dick Cheney in a nursing home: it's a target-rich environment. Ford is out of step with New York Democrats in so many ways that it's almost comical to think that anyone would raise this trial balloon.
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Sun Jan 10, 2010 at 12:19:48 PM EST
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Harold's Ford's unofficial campaign to primary Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, launched Wednesday by the CK-pining New York Times, has gotten a lot of attention, in the media and the blogosphere. Some of today's updates are here, here, here, and here.
Flying under the radar was a short story in the Staten Island Advance, (updated somewhat here) about a possible Republican candidate who could be formidable.
Details, below.
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Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 17:40:52 PM EST
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It's fairly predictable that Harold Ford will try to remake his image to better appeal to New York Democrats. In fact he's already started to do so, albeit in fairly small steps. Ford made sure to say that if he had his way on the health care bill, the Stupak amendment would be out.
"He wants to improve the health care bill so he can vote for it, addressing the concerns of Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Paterson, so New York gets its fair share, removing anti-abortion language, and protecting more small businesses from mandates," Goldin said.
source
This is not a major step because opposing the Stupak amendment does not make someone pro-choice. However the entire statement is a clear pander at New York voters. Not only is Ford supporting the choice lobby here, he's specifically supporting New York interests over a more fiscally conservative bill. But the pro-choice language here is a complete shift in the rhetoric of Harold Ford.
Ford supporters will predictably say that Senator Gillibrand also shifted her rhetoric and her record as a Senator does not match her record as a Congresswoman. While Gillibrand has softened her stance on certain issues, there is nothing inherently inconsistent with her major stances. Senator Gillibrand always stood up for woman's rights and LGBT rights. The change of heart that Harold Ford needs to undergo to be competitive in New York just won't be as convincing. It will be the biggest "change of heart" that New York has even seen.
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Sat Jan 09, 2010 at 15:47:59 PM EST
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For the fourth day in a row, the New York Times has a story today about Harold Ford's campaign to primary Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
The Times launched the campaign Wednesday with a story about how some wealthy friends of NYT publisher Pinch Sulzberger were pushing Ford to make the race.
By Day Four, the story is almost in mid-campaign mode, with the favored candidate getting another NYT puff piece, this one featuring a "pungent statement" by his freshly hired spokesman.
Also by Day Four, it's become increasingly clear that Ford is the favored candidate of the richest person in the city, Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who must still be smarting from the fact that his prior favorite for Senate (Caroline Kennedy) was not appointed.
Details, below.
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