NYT: Ford to Challenge Gillibrand against party wishes.

[ram2008]

So far the only source is Drudgereport( I do hate him) , but apparently NYT is going to headline with this tomorrow.

"NYT LEAD WEDS. Harold Ford Jr. IS challenging Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand for the Democratic nomination, against wishes of party leaders..."

Disgusting. I hope Ford destroys any chance he ever has holding an elected office.

[msongs]

1. republicans in the dems primary? hmmm nt

[Jim Lane]

37. No, New York has closed primaries

The Democratic primary isn't open to registered Republicans or even to independents. You must be a registered Democrat to vote in the primary.

Furthermore, anyone who's currently registered to vote, but not as a Democrat, can't sneak into the primary by changing registration now. A change of party affiliation doesn't take effect until a general election has passed. A Republican who wanted to vote for Ford in the primary would have had to re-register as a Democrat before the November 2009 general election.

[IndianaGreen]

2. Perhaps Ford and Drudge got together in the same stall at a public restroom

That's where these two creeps belong!

[rasputin1952]

3. He's acting like a Carpetbagger...

not sure how many times he's moved to get into an election...but from my folks in NY, Gillibrand is doing a fine job, and most people see Ford as a joke, or worse, the Carpetbagger.

I believe Gillibrand will take it in the General election. For the short time she's been there, she's done a fine job.

[IndianaGreen]

7. Ford is acting like some dangerous parasite, going from host to host

What takes the cake is that now Ford has flipped flopped on abortion and LGBT rights. He was against both, now he claims he is for them!

[rasputin1952]

13. There was a time when I actually liked him, found him to be articulate

and knowledgeable. I think your description as a "parasite" is appropriate...:hi:

[IndianaGreen]

14. I plead guilty to liking Kirsten Gillibrand

She has actually done a lot of work in favor of LGBT rights since she came to the Senate, not just talking to gay groups behind closed doors.

I admit I donate money to her campaign. A modest contribution, to be sure, but a big symbolic one for her outspoken opposition to DADT and DOMA.

Now we got Harold Ford, like the fly in the ointment. Where is my fly swatter?

[rasputin1952]

15. My brother is in NY...

I was just talking to him last night...he figures that Gillibrand has the election hands down...for sure, the nomination. People in NY are happy w/her...:D

An aside...I saw her a while back on C-SPAN about something or other...I was impressed w/poise and intellect...pretty good for being a junior...:woohoo:

[Cha]

19. Have you heard anything about

Ford's motive's for this?

It really is bizarre when you think about it. I always knew he was a dino but this is ridiculous. Gillibrand is a New Yorker who has served New Yorkers..what has Ford done for New York?

[rasputin1952]

20. The "motive" appears to be not much more than ego...

Up to this point, he is only looking for funding, feeling out the ground...that could change monetarily though.

If he tries, he's gonna get trounced...in all seriousness, so many NY'ers see this as a sham, he'd go home like a beaten slug...:hi:

[Cha]

23. It will be my pleasure

to vote against the dinobagger. :hi:

[IndianaGreen]

21. Michael Bloomberg: (Gillibrand) was vulnerable and would undoubtedly face a challenger

This is what happens when you put people on ignore, you remain in the dark when it counts!

Here is what Michael Bloomberg said about Gillibrand: (she) was vulnerable and would undoubtedly face a challenger, whether it was Mr. Ford or someone else.

Bloomberg's former campaign manager and his pollster are advising Harold Ford.

[Pirate Smile]

22. He has a book dropping a week (I think) before the primary.

[Cha]

24. That ought to be a winner..

The world according to Harold Ford Jr, traveling dino.

[cooolandrew]

18. Yep, he's wasting his time Gilibrand has done a lot of good in NY, can't see his objective here.

[Cha]

4. Who's paying him to attempt fubar in New York?

"* Former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D) noted today that he is "strongly considering running for the United States Senate" in New York. In preparation, the center-right Tennessean hopes to reinvent himself as a center-left New Yorker -- Ford voted in 2006 for a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage, but now claims to support gay marriage."

* The White House is making it clear that it's opposed to Ford's possible primary campaign against appointed Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D)."

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

After he loses then will he go back to being a far right dino in Tennessee? The saga continues.

[ram2008]

6. bloomberg.

I think Ford knows he can't win and will act as a spoiler. It will be a brutal primary, and when he loses I can see Ford pulling a Lieberman and running as an Independent siphoning votes from Gillibrand. Bloomberg has tons and tons of cash to spend on this, he will do everything he can to make the seat turn red.

[IndianaGreen]

8. Michael Bloomberg is the man behind Harold Ford's challenge to Kirsten Gillibrand

Bloomberg's campaign manager and pollster are both working for Ford.

[alsame]

10. I don't think he'll take too many votes away from Gillibrand. It's pretty

obvious he's carpetbagging and 'trying to re-invent himself'.

[Cha]

11. Are you sure? Because I don't

see bloomberg doing this.

[IndianaGreen]

16. Putting people on ignore sometimes results in a lack of information

Luckily we have lots of lurkers that read DU. They are the ones that benefit from reading the good information posted in DU, without having to get involved in the ugliness.

I posted this info twice before:

Michael Bloomberg is the man behind Harold Ford's challenge to Kirsten Gillibrand

Why wouldn't the head of DLC lie in bed with a billionaire moderate Republican like Bloomberg. DLC and Rockefeller Republicans share the same neoliberal ideology, so why not?

From NY Times:

The New York political world reacted swiftly and strongly to the possibility of Harold Ford Jr.’s candidacy for the United States Senate, with top Senate leaders trying to squash the bid and close advisers to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg meeting with Mr. Ford on Thursday to plot strategy for a campaign.

<snip>

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, called Mr. Bloomberg, and expressed concern about the reports of a possible Ford bid for the Senate, and asked if the mayor or his top political aides were behind the effort.

Mr. Bloomberg, speaking on his cellphone on a drive to an event, reassured Mr. Reid that he was not personally involved in the effort to promote a Ford candidacy, according to a senior Democratic official and an aide to the mayor. But Mr. Bloomberg also told Senator Reid that Ms. Gillibrand, with whom he has at times clashed, was vulnerable and would undoubtedly face a challenger, whether it was Mr. Ford or someone else.

But around the same time that Mr. Bloomberg was distancing himself from the Ford effort, two of his top campaign strategists met with Mr. Ford, 39, for lunch at the Harvard Club in Manhattan. Bradley Tusk, who managed Mr. Bloomberg successful mayoral re-election campaign, and Doug Schoen, the mayor’s pollster, provided a detailed portrait of the city’s political landscape to Mr. Ford, a former Tennessee representative, and described to him what a challenge to Ms. Gillibrand would involve. The senator, appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson last year, has never run statewide, but is considered a prodigious fund-raiser.

Mr. Tusk confirmed the meeting. Mr. Ford declined to be interviewed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/nyregion/08ford.html?hp

[grantcart]

5. Well this will be fun

After watching that SOB on TV now I get to see him humiliate himself.

[BeyondGeography]

9. What a joke

More proof that man's capacity for pointless foolishness knows no bounds.

I will crawl over broken glass to vote against this asshole.

[michaz]

12. I won't be voting for him! n/t

[IndianaGreen]

17. Michael Bloomberg is the man behind Harold Ford's challenge to Kirsten Gillibrand

I posted this NY Times story previously. It is worth the read.

Michael Bloomberg is the man behind Harold Ford's challenge to Kirsten Gillibrand

Why wouldn't the head of DLC lie in bed with a billionaire moderate Republican like Bloomberg. DLC and Rockefeller Republicans share the same neoliberal ideology, so why not?

From NY Times:

The New York political world reacted swiftly and strongly to the possibility of Harold Ford Jr.’s candidacy for the United States Senate, with top Senate leaders trying to squash the bid and close advisers to Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg meeting with Mr. Ford on Thursday to plot strategy for a campaign.

<snip>

Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic majority leader, called Mr. Bloomberg, and expressed concern about the reports of a possible Ford bid for the Senate, and asked if the mayor or his top political aides were behind the effort.

Mr. Bloomberg, speaking on his cellphone on a drive to an event, reassured Mr. Reid that he was not personally involved in the effort to promote a Ford candidacy, according to a senior Democratic official and an aide to the mayor. But Mr. Bloomberg also told Senator Reid that Ms. Gillibrand, with whom he has at times clashed, was vulnerable and would undoubtedly face a challenger, whether it was Mr. Ford or someone else.

But around the same time that Mr. Bloomberg was distancing himself from the Ford effort, two of his top campaign strategists met with Mr. Ford, 39, for lunch at the Harvard Club in Manhattan. Bradley Tusk, who managed Mr. Bloomberg successful mayoral re-election campaign, and Doug Schoen, the mayor’s pollster, provided a detailed portrait of the city’s political landscape to Mr. Ford, a former Tennessee representative, and described to him what a challenge to Ms. Gillibrand would involve. The senator, appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson last year, has never run statewide, but is considered a prodigious fund-raiser.

Mr. Tusk confirmed the meeting. Mr. Ford declined to be interviewed.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/nyregion/08ford.html?hp

[whistler162]

25. Harold "Edsel" Ford as popular as his namesake was.

Hillary was one thing, didn't vote for her either time. But, Harold "Edsel" Ford over a native New Yorker and a decent Senator.

[thatsrightimirish]

26. a win for everyone

he won't be on nbc all the time and he will lose

[mgcgulfcoast]

27. Ford is a fool

what is this idiot doing? does he want to split the party in new york? is new york a place everyone goes to be senator? stay out of new york ford!!

[dkf]

28. One of the dem consultants doesn't think Gillibrand can win.

McMahon I think.

I don't like that Schumer is pulling the strings for Gillibrand.

[davidpdx]

29. I think people should show up at his events with signs

"Go home Gerald"

(no, that wasn't a typo)

[SanchoPanza]

30. He has a book coming out next September.

http://www.amazon.com/More-Davids-Than-Goliaths-Political/dp/0307408388/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1263380914&sr=8-1">It comes out a week before the primary is scheduled.

Nothing says free publicity like campaigning for U.S. Senate on someone else's dime.

[CTLawGuy]

31. Harold Ford,

the guy who managed to lose in the Democratic year of '06? I wouldn't lose any sleep if I were Gillibrand.

[flpoljunkie]

32. His tentative slogan: “Harold Ford: nobody’s man but ours.”

Ford is a vice chairman at Merrill Lynch, (now Bank of America.)

He called for a major reduction in the corporate tax rate and a payroll tax holiday to encourage hiring.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/13/nyregion/13ford.html?hp

[CTLawGuy]

36. oh man

what a liberal guy he is?

[euphoria12leo]

33. Harold Ford was on MSNBC awhile back

and said he left alot of his friends at FOX. Who, I'm not sure he didn't say. He made the comment after Jesse Jackson got caught with an open mic on Fox bashing Obama. If he has friends at Fixed news that tells me all I need to know about Ford. Not to mention he's not going to win anything in NY.

:thumbsdown:

[WonderGrunion]

34. Ford is a borderline Repuke so Drudge is probably a good source here.

Gillibrand is a good Democrat and she looks like she could win. We really don't need a primary challenge from this schmuck.

[Lord Helmet]

35. Can't stand Ford. He's a huge douche.

[Jennicut]

38. Eww. I guess because he couldn't win in a red state he has to come up north and bother NY.

I like Gillibrand, she has been a pleasant surprise. I hope Dems in NY turn their noses at this pathetic excuse for a human being. There is nothing worse then a desperate to be elected politician.

[Renew Deal]

39. BRING....IT....ON.....

I look forward to him being eviscerated by the NYC Democrats and finished off by the rest of us.