Harold Ford Jr.
Sexy, smart, southerner, politician... Sexy.
Okay, enough of my fantasy stuff; here's the story, Harold may run for Senator of NY.
Meaning, he will (if he decides to) run against Kirsten E. Gillibrand, NY's Golden Lesbian and current Senator. Many have stressed that he has great chance of winning and to be honest, he could win this thing.
But, his voting record could be the 'HALT' for many LGBT folks. For example: He voted yes on Constitutional Amendment banning same-sex marriage, against including us in the Hate Crimes Act and voted no on ENDA.
I was deeply hurt when I found out about this, however, that was his stance 6 years ago. At this point, we are not sure of where he stands on these matters today. Now, I'm not completely defending him, I'm just waiting to hear where he is in 2010... People can change.
But some don't think so and have already launched a campaign against him.
Alan van Capelle, Pride Agenda Executive Director said:
Okay, fair points, but again this is from 6 years ago.“Ford supports a constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. In fact, he voted for the Federal Marriage Amendment both times it reached the House floor. He has also gone out of his way to condemn court rulings (New Jersey’s, for example) that called for equal treatment under the law for same-sex couples. During his last year in the House, Ford received a 25 (out of 100) rating on HRC’s Congressional Scorecard.”
I think Harold is a smart man. Smart enough to know that his anti-gay views will not get him elected. But if he still holds those anti-gay views, I can't stand for him.
So the jury is still out of Harold (or at least in my book)
***if you want to see his record, go here
8 comments:
Interesting to see Ford pop up again. He was one of those proto-black, pre-Obama politicians who was supposed to put it down for POC on a national scale, and not much came of it. New York is big things and that could put him back on the political map, and of course I'm curious to see exactly how he stands on GLBT issues.
This is a tough one. Part of me thinks for his stance be only 6 years ago, he would have reasons [I wouldn't agree with] I hardly expect to change this soon. It is however, politics, and he might have been trying to sustain his job in a conservative district.
Isn't he from Tennessee? So he would move to NY to unseat a sitting Democrat? I certainly don't like the sound of that. Why not move to CT and try for Lieberman's seat?
Harold Ford - ugh. What a slimeball.
Saw him at a funder in Nashville a few years ago. Total playa and NOT a progressive.
"Many have stressed that he has great chance of winning and to be honest, he could win this thing."
I don't know who you're citing or quoting there, but no one seems to think he has a "great chance." Nearly everyone thinks it's remote to nil.
Siena College included him in their Dec 6 poll and it got 7% of the vote (to Gillibrand's 32).
http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/polltracker/2009/12/gillibrand-strongest-in-genera.html
Granted, he has little Empire State name recognition, but to know him is not to love him. Not only have GLBT groups called foul, but so have women's groups, as he has a long record of opposing reproductive rights. And they've all sent out press releases calling him an inappropriate choice for NY.
People want facts on Ford's record would do well to check out his New York Based blog's take on him:
Harold Ford, on the issues
http://www.thealbanyproject.com/diary/7777/harold-ford-on-the-issues
Ford is clearly an inappropriate choice for New York Democrats.-
Actually, Clarknt, he could give her a run for her money. Harold is well known in Dem. party, highly respected and strong within the poc communities.
Gillibrand does not match him in those areas. Regardless of his record, he could win.
I mean, you can say that, it seems like opinion that he has a chance.
The facts are, his polling is bad, much worse than Gillibrand's.
Victory is favors the incumbent the vast majority of the time, almost always, absent a scandal.
Gillibrand has $5.5 million in the bank for re-election, and has a reputation as a good fundraiser.
Schumer, the DNC, and most of the Democratic establishment have lined up behind Gillibrand. Obama is rumored to have swept the field for her of previous challengers.
Her only weaknesses seem to be from the left, because of her record of supporting NRA and disfavoring immigration.
But Ford can only attack her from the right, he's far more conservative than Gillibrand. And you can't win a Democratic primary attacking a centrist from the right.
He can't win the gays, he can't win the women, and with his long history of voting for free-trade agreements, he can't win labor.
If anything it will help her, as the left has been semi-cool to her. But the prospect of Ford will activate them in her favor.
I agree, he's very handsome. But no one really thinks he's a serious threat to Gillibrand's incumbency.
I'm not a fan. He has a pretty face, and is a good pundit (sometimes), but I'll stick with Gillibrand.
First of all, while Hilary Clinton got away with because she was Hilary Clinton, Ford just voted to NYC after he failed to win the Senate in his home place and now wants to try again. I have to wonder if he will just move if he looses here too.
And Ford might well known with establishment Dems but his conservative views will not mesh well with liberal New Yorkers, and Gillibrand has at least shown the ability to adjust and see the error of her ways.
Interesting record and stance on issues involving LGBT issues and women's rights. However, his district was 1 of the 2 very progressive districts in Tennessee, so he must have kept this conservative stance because he wanted to win statewide office someday. FYI, his former Congressional district was TN-9, which is practically the encompassmment of the city of Memphis and portions of Shelby County, TN. I'm not going to judge him on this because he might have changed, but it is what it is.
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