Ford Pulls Even With Corker in Tennessee Senate Contest

[jefferson_dem]

Ford Pulls Even With Corker in Tennessee Senate Contest
By Rachel Kapochunas | 3:01 PM; Sep. 27, 2006 | Email This Article

:woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo: :woohoo:
CQPolitics.com’s list of tossup Senate races continues to grow: The rating on the Tennessee contest for the seat of two-term Republican incumbent Bill Frist, the Senate majority leader, has been moved to No Clear Favorite from Leans Republican.

Five-term Democratic Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr.’s personal charisma and career-long effort to cast himself as a political centrist have made him a strong contender throughout his bid to succeed Frist, but he has faced some serious obstacles.

Ford is vying to become the first African-American senator popularly elected in the South, in a state that has trended Republican. And voters in the Aug. 3 GOP primary nominated an establishment figure, former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, who Republican officials were confident would have broad appeal while satisfying the party’s conservative base.

But candidates’ campaigns matter. And the consensus among state and national politics watchers is that Ford, since the primary, has run a much more effective campaign than Corker, who has faced some dissent among staunch GOP conservatives and repeated allegations launched by Ford and other Democrats about his actions as mayor and his personal financial dealings.

Several recent independent polls now show the two party nominees trading front-runner status, alternating razor-thin and inconclusive leads.

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http://www.cqpolitics.com/2006/09/ford_pulls_even_with_corker_in.html

[skipos]

1. Replacing Frist with Ford would be fantastic. nt

[Awsi Dooger]

2. Big move on Ford at Tradesports

He is now trading at 43% in the latest activity. So that's still the underdog but considerably better than the 20% range where he was trading for months. Similarly, Jim Webb is up to 36% in Virginia after being in the 10-25% range all year.

The bad news in Kean is now the favorite and that is increasing, the latest number at 68%.

[politicasista]

3. Go Harold! n/t