Let me start by saying this...I DO NOT want to be writing this diary right now. After the election, I was completely emotionally drained. I was thrilled that we had taken back Congress, but upset that the candidate that I'd given my life to in 2006 had lost.
So I decided, I wasn't going to write about Tennessee politics for awhile. There would be plenty of time to do that in 2008, and at any rate it was time to move on and focus on more important issues. It was time to focus on Iraq, the economy, poking fun at the GOP presidential candidates, and how we're going to take back the White House in 2008.
But here I am, writing about TN-Sen a full year before I planned to do so again. I didn't want to do this, but I have to respond to what Kos said earlier today.
First of all, let me just emphasize that I have absolutely no objection to bashing the DLC. And if Harold Ford Jr. says something, in his capacity as chair of the DLC, that undermines the party, feel free to criticize him all you want; you'll get no disagreement from me. Personally, I think it was a stupid career move for him. If he expects to run for Senate again in 2008, or for Governor in 2010, he needs to spend these next few years doing something more Tennessee-specific. We don't like it in TN when our politicians go all "Washington" on us. Just ask Al Gore about that.
It's this that bothers me:
None of these candidates (not even Boyda) won by running Harold Ford-style campaigns. They were aggressive. They refused to play inside Republican frames. They made clear distinctions between themselves and the GOP. And given a choice, people responded positively. It's good to see that they are continuing the same approach that served them well, despite what must be intense pressure from DLC-ish forces in DC to get them to try and out-Republican the Republicans. (The same people who thought Harold Ford's losing effort was a "perfect campaign".)
No, the campaign was not perfect. There were problems, and I'm beginning to see that now. Ford got a lot of national media buzz, and while that was great for raising his profile, it also made him come off as "slick." Those of us who had met him personally knew that wasn't true, but the perception stuck.
The other problem was the failure to account for just how much the race issue would matter. No one, on either side, wanted to talk about it then, and no one does now. But there was definitely a racist undertone to the right's attacks on Ford. It wasn't just the "Harold, call me" ads, it was far more subtle and covert, done by their folks on the ground. We hoped that most people in TN would see through that, but I guess we miscalculated. I think it would've helped if Ford himself had been more candid about it, and not just by asking Corker about it in a parking lot. I guess that does tie back to the "slick" perception, and maybe it would've helped to have taken a page from the Webb or Tester campaigns there.
But there's one thing I'm not going to let anyone forget: Every single dollar that the Republicans spent on Bob Corker was a dollar that they did not spend on George Allen or Conrad Burns. They poured money into TN, knowing how embarrassing it would be to lose that seat. They surrendered Virginia and Montana in the meantime. Ford may have lost, but there can be no question that he helped us take back the Senate.
So it bugs the hell out of me that Kos is still looking to get in cheap shots on Ford three months after the fact. Those of us who supported Ford are moving on and focusing on 2008, why can't the rest of you? Like I said, if you want to criticize Ford for something he does as chair of the DLC, go right ahead. But with comments like this, added to the fact that Kos was actively rooting against Ford weeks before the election (even as it became clear that CT was lost), that makes me feel like there's a more personal grudge here, not just a matter of "We don't like the DLC, and therefore we don't like Ford."
Furthermore, Bob Corker was one of the Republican Senators who just voted against cloture on the minimum wage bill. Ford completely supported raising the minimum wage. You tell me how working families are better off without Ford in the Senate.
We have another Senator up for re-election in 2008, Lamar! Alexander. It will be more difficult to defeat an incumbent than to win an open seat, to be sure. But we're going to try. That is what the 50-State Strategy is all about. Will y'all be on board, or will the TN netroots have to go elsewhere to find support?