Harold E. Ford Jr. Decides Not to Run for New York Senate Seat

[mod mom]

Source: New York Times

BREAKING NEWS7:12 PM ET Harold E. Ford Jr. Decides Not to Run for New York Senate Seat

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No link yet.

[babylonsister]

1. Aww, that's a real shame. NOT! nt

[marshall]

26. Go Kirsten!

Take it to the bank!

[Submariner]

2. Yaaay

[mod mom]

3. link:

March 1, 2010, 7:09 PM
Ford Decides Not to Run
By MICHAEL BARBARO

Alan Zale for The New York Times
Under intense pressure from Democratic Party officials, Harold E. Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman, has decided not to challenge Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand in the primary this fall, according to two people told of his plans.

He has told friends that, while he is convinced he could prevail against Ms. Gillibrand, he feared the winner of the primary would have little money and remain highly vulnerable to a well-financed Republican challenger at a time when the Democratic party controls the Senate by a slim majority.

“I’ve examined this race in every possible way, and I keep returning to the same fundamental conclusion: If I run, the likely result would be a brutal and highly negative Democratic primary — a primary where the winner emerges weak-ened and the Republican strengthened,” Mr. Ford wrote in an opinion article to be published in Tuesday’s edition of The New York Times

I refuse to do anything that would help
Republicans win a Senate seat in New
York, and give the Senate majority to the
Republicans.

-snip

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/01/ford-decides-not-to-run/

One less DINO to run.

[hlthe2b]

5. What BS... He's not running because he's read the polls and

someone has convinced him no $$ and no support is going to come his way, given how weak a candidate he is (and how despised by the NY DEM elecorate)

[mod mom]

7. no kidding.

[whistler162]

11. Less the polls and more likely the people who

talked to him this AM finally convinced him not to run.

[IndianaGreen]

6. He is welcome to run for Bayh's seat in Indiana

Ford has flown over Indiana before, which would make him eligible to run.

[DebbieCDC]

4. I'm sure that makes NY happy

[xultar]

8. I'm sure he heard that combing his hair was a requirement

[TheDebbieDee]

30. Lol !

[thereismore]

9. He is kinda sleezy. nt

[Bette Noir]

10. Good. Let him get a job as a commentator at Fox.

They're always looking for a "liberal" for their stable.

[thatsrightimirish]

12. oh well

would have been funny

[TheWraith]

13. HOT DAMN!

Best news all fucking day. :D

[groundloop]

14. Reality sucks, doesn't it Harold?

[Knight Hawk]

15. Good move

I hope he did not pay an adviser a lot of money for the advice not to run.He had less chance of winning the seat than I have of being the next pope.

[hayu_lol]

16. Next time Ford surfaces...

he will be a repugnant. He has to either find something to do in govt. or find a real job along with many of us.

[bullwinkle428]

17. Hopefully, the "Stonewall Ass-Kicking" was the final straw!

:woohoo:

[Historic NY]

18. Must have been reading DU...

:donut:

[scottsoperson]

19. ford's opponent used racism

to defeat him in tennessee. yap, those evil moderates.

[scottsoperson]

20. rush doesn't like moderates either.

...

[Hell Hath No Fury]

29. Good lord you are annoying.

:eyes:

[progressoid]

31. I don't expect "Scott" to be annoying us much longer.

;)

[Hell Hath No Fury]

33. I finally ht the button --

Spamming sucks.

[progressoid]

34. Me too.

But on a different thread.

[fascisthunter]

36. corporatists are anything but moderate

nothing more extreme than selling out one's own country.

Ford is anything but a moderate.

[KoKo]

21. Hope this is true...it would be great news.. K&R

[donheld]

22. There might be a dog catcher's job he can run for.

[AllyCat]

28. That's hardly fair to the dogs he catches!

[donheld]

37. Oops, I don't want PETA coming after me for that

:hide::D

[defendandprotect]

23. That sounds like real good news -- ???!!!

[Renew Deal]

24. lol

That was easier than I expected. :rofl:

[Dr.Phool]

25. Clueless crybaby.

Run as a repuke, you DLC piece of shit. They'd welcome you.

[AllyCat]

27. Too bad. So sad. Bye bye.

[No Elephants]

32. He's still trashing Gillebrand, though, even as he announced on Morning Joe today that

he had decided not to run.

Someone please explain to me where the win in that is for the Democratic Party, the DLC, Gillebrand or Ford?

Was Ford angling for yet more guest spots sucking up to Intern Joe and Mikka Mouse?

"I dropped out of the primary race so as not to weaken that phony Gillebrand, who I truly believe is a vastly inferior candidate to me." Okay, that's a paraphrase--but not by a whole lot.

[indepat]

35. My one face-to-face challenge to HEF, Jr. was to assure his legacy be that of a statesman, not just

another dime-a-dozen politician. I worried about the dime-a-dozen stuff but sadly he never reached the 2-cents-level. :P