If Corker wins Tennessee will be the laughing stock of the country

[pf99]

With the injection of race with the latest ad from the RNC, this race has reached a new low.

I am sad to report that based on my phone banking we are seeing an erosion of support for Harold Ford Jr. This race is far from over but I nowhere as optimistic as I was a week ago.

I can here the jokes. How do you spell Tennessee - TEKKK lol.

I ask all you here to do whatever you can to support Harold.

FU Ken Melmam

[kentjay]

1. well i believe that gen .nathan bedford forrest

began the klan in pulaski, tn.not much progress since then.

[Claire Beth]

3. I disagree....

with your comment that "not much progress" has been made since Nathan Bedford Forrest/Klan.. We do have some work to do on the racism issue but there has been quite a lot of progress since that time! AND Tennessee has NEVER been as racist as most of the other southern states (SC, GA, AL, MS for example) I'm not suggesting there is NO racism in TN because obviously there IS - but to say not much progress has been made is naive.
Ford may lose on November 7 but the fact that currently 45% of Tennesseans support Ford, and a small percentage are still undecided proves there is progress.

:dem:

[TornadoTN]

2. The problem lies in the campaign, not the candidate

Ford has my support and vote, but I have to say that his campaign staff has to be one of the most disorganized and utterly incompetent collections of people that I have ever run across. Of course, I'm not referring to the volunteers who are so vital to the effort (much like yourself), but rather the paid operatives running the show on the ground.

They seem to be putting more stock into getting ex-Republicans or Republicans to come on board while totally abandoning the base and the grassroots of Tennessee Democrats. While I don't fault them for wanting to appeal to moderate Republicans, the way they have gone about it has left a sour taste in the mouths of many. I personally know of at least 8-10 families that have wanted to help the campaign by volunteering their time and money only to be made to feel less than desirable by the local campaign staff. I ran into this personally (again) and I must say that if this election wasn't so important and vital, I would cast my vote (and my money) elsewhere.

You have done great work pf99 and I hope that Ford is able to win this election, but my once boundless optimism and enthusiasm has been tempered with disappointment and disgust with the campaign. Make no mistake, this isn't just happening with me - this has happened to others and word spreads quickly. I know of one gentleman that was so put off by the local campaign director that he actually took his Ford signs out of his yard and said he was going to sit this election out. That certainly isn't the best decision, but some people are reacting that way.

[SharonAnn]

6. Ford is running a great campaign inthe media, but it's tough on the

ground. I know that we wish we could get more support, too. But we need to stand up and do our jobs.

It is OUR job, the local Democratic Party's job, to Get Out The Base Voters. I know that the Ford campaign doesn't always have the signs we want, etc. but we have to do our job nonetheless. It's a very expensive campaign, I think it's the most expensive Senate race ever. The campaign's focus has to be fund-raising and swing voters.

In some counties I've heard such whining over the years (including my county) and I'm so OVER IT! We need to take responsibility and build our base and get them out to vote.

It's the candidate's job to get to the swing voters, those who can be influenced to vote Democratic.

[TornadoTN]

7. That's very true and I salute you for making it work

But it just isn't working in this area. When people want to volunteer, and when I say volunteer I mean phone bank, canvass, answer phones, DONATE, etc., they should be able to do so and feel that they are welcome in the campaign. As you suggested, it takes the boots on the ground and individual voices to make an impact.

Ford is doing what he needs to be doing and I don't fault him for that. To win Tennessee, you must be able to convince unaffiliated voters and a small sample of moderates to vote for you. I don't have a problem with that at all. What I do have a problem with is the campaign directors that seem to believe that they are the end-all-be-all of political strategy for their particular region. Proud Democrats like myself want to help so why are we being turned away in favor of the pursuit of the elusive "Former Republican"?

Maybe its just happening here in East Tennessee, but that's not a good sign because this area of the state could very well be the deciding factor in this election. Ford knows this, but do the people in his campaign know the same thing?

[tnlefty]

11. Now that the election is over, I agree with you that the paid staffers

were good at PISSING OFF the local party members who consistently and faithfully work their asses of for elections. Not good at all. Here it wasn't a matter of turning people away it was a matter of pissing people off so that it got to the point that they were staying away, and there was no good reason for it.

[TornadoTN]

12. It plagued his campaign from east to west

All day election day I was hearing from people across the state as I called to get exit poll numbers from the other HQ's that the Ford campaign ran to the right so fast that it made him less attractive as a candidate - why vote for Ford when Corker supports the same issues? It's the old Devil You Know routine.

That coupled with the blatant disregard by the campaign staffers of the base that turned people away from Ford as well. I personally know of several families that were treated with disdain by the local staff office because they are Anti-War Democrats. In essence, they were told that they weren't welcome there at the campaign HQ because having Anti-War Democrats involved would turn Republicans off. I took a couple weeks away because I was getting pushed aside in favor of the staff bringing in an Independent or a "Former Republican". These people rarely lasted a week, I guess their conscious got to them while those of us who were dedicated to the cause came back because we believed in the importance of the race. The campaign management was incompetent at best and disastrous at worst. By trying to run after the Republican vote they abandoned the base - they felt that Democrats would vote for him anyway. In a sense, that is correct but think about all the people that were left behind or disillusioned because they were treated as some sort of leper to his campaign.

This election wasn't about the exchange of ideas or making a "new direction" for this state, it was merely an effort to get Harold a new job. Sure, Ford would have been a better statesman but in the end Corker and Ford aren't as much different as they are alike.

[4_TN_TITANS]

4. What turns me off

are the sleazy adds that both the D & R campaign committees are running. Even my 9 yr. old daughter says they are tacky. I think Harold would do much better if the Dems in DC left the R's to play in the mud by themselves.

I'll keep trying, but I have little faith in the intelligence of the average Tennesseean to NOT elect another damn Repug.

[TornadoTN]

5. I know what you mean

I haven't seen too many sleazy adds by the D's, but the ones they are trotting out there leave a lot to be desired - in short, they lack any real substantantive debate. Right now, the only thing that the average voter knows about either candidate is that Corker is a squeeky voice millionaire and Ford is a pretty-boy politician. The regional campaigns for Ford are running in opposite directions trying to sway the Republicans (which lets face it - most of them aren't changing sides in this election).

I have a business client from Pennsylvania that was in town for a meeting and he remarked to me "What's the difference between your two candidates? There doesn't appear to be many - if any at all". While we know that there is a difference - albeit a minor one - between the two, to most Tennesseans there just isn't enough substance with either candidate to differentiate themselves to the voter. I was once fired up for Ford, but my faith has really started to fade just by the way the campaign is being run. Our state is itching to go Blue and we are making progress, but running campaigns like Ford has been running is certainly not the way to swing the tide in our favor.

[pscot]

8. Not while Oklahoma

keeps sending James Imhof to the Senate.

[colonel odis]

9. ford will probably get the most votes, but corker will probably win.

the g.o.p. wants this race badly, i believe. so don't look for the votes to be counted properly.

[Flirtus]

10. That erosion of support -

is it the same as that 10-15% who basically lie about their position before they vote? That is, do you think there's a similar slide 'on the other side'? I like statistics and watching the numbers is keeping me from total battiness.

I am saddened to find people near and dear to me that really think Corker has a clue and that our Harold is a scarey man.

One co-worker thinks that our company will get more business if corker is in! Another thinks corker is just cuter, and that those girls of his are being misrepresented (!) - and she thinks corker was just great at the debates. And another (a black woman!) wants to know if Ford's mother was white. - REALLY.

I've lamented before that people are making a political decisions based on anything but political reasons, and no wonder We the People are in the mess we're in.

I'm going to vote tomorrow, then write my letter to Harold telling him he's just wrong as regards equal rights for all, (gay rights, new citizens have to speak English, etc) then I'm putting the ear plugs in, ignoring my co-workes and the TeeVee, and praying, yes, real prayers, to every higher power that I can name.

[Tippy]

13. To set the record streight....

" And another (a black woman!) wants to know if Ford's mother was white. - REALLY."

His Grandmother is or was white...not sure if she is still living.

[tnlefty]

14. As if we don't have sooo many reasons to be the laughing stock of the

country already! Corker ran a nasty, race-baiting, sleazy campaign that appealed to the worst of us.