If you missed stef's eyewitness account with video, go ahead and do that. The reviews are coming in from the New York media in the meantime.
But before you go below, you have got to see Harold Ford's face on the video running this morning on NY1.
Thanks to Scarce for the vid:
Here is what is circulating on NY1 this morning:
At issue is Ford's voting record as a Tennessee congressman, where he twice supported an amendment to the constitution that would bar same sex marriage.
Eyeing office in New York now, he said he was wrong. To many, the gesture oozed insincere politics -- and they let him know it.
"I voted twice in favor of it and I was wrong. I now recognize the wrongness of my ways," said Ford Junior.
"Here's somebody who took very anti-gay positions, and took very Republican positions and joined with the Bush White House in trying to make us political scape goats, and that's why people are so angry, that's why so people are so hostile," said gay rights activist Jeffrey Campagna.
Though Ford denied it Wednesday, activists have accused him of misleading Tennessee voters when the amendments were being debated.
Two gay activists in Memphis said in telephone interviews Wednesday that Ford's office had informed them he was voting against the amendment.
Adding fuel to charges of insincerity is a heavily-circulated ad from his failed 2006 Senate race in Tennessee in which he touts his stance against gay marriage.
It just got a hell of a lot harder to win over city voters after hitting a literal stonewall with the powerful New York Stonewall Democrats. With City voters increasingly out of reach, and upstate voters probably a lock for upstate born and bred Gillibrand, Ford only has a shot in the suburban counties just north of New York and on Long Island. Of course, with Nassau County Democratic Chairman Jay Jacobs telling Ford to think long term instead of short term even Long Island is becoming a tough row to hoe.
The Daily News headlined with "Harold Ford hits a Stonewall"
Harold Ford took his "listening tour" to the mostly gay Stonewall Democratic Club in Manhattan's West Village on Wednesday night - and he sure got an earful.
Ford tried to explain how he went from voting to ban gay marriage with a constitutional amendment in 2006 as a Tennessee congressman to now supporting it as he mulls a primary bid against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand.
It wasn't an easy message to get out in a raucous 30 minutes at the W. 13th St. club. Ford was interrupted repeatedly by chants of "No more lies, no more lies" and "Snake-oil Harry, go away."
At one point, several audience members raised signs with slogans like, "It's the lies, stupid!" At the end of the session, someone even ignited a loud but harmless confetti bomb - sending a noticeable jolt through Ford and others.
Next, two powerful Congressmen, and key movers of the African American vote threw more cold water on Ford's campaign. Greg Meeks and Ed Towns weighed in:
Meeks noted that Tennessee is a very different place politically than the Empire State.
"Anytime you have a candidacy, the question is, what’s your political base? And I don’t think Harold has been able to identify or show he has a political base in New York," Meeks said, adding that he had communicated that viewpoint to Ford.
Towns echoed Meeks’ statement on his personal friendship with Ford and said he would be a serious candidate should he get in the race. However, Towns said the fact that the CBC members are lining up behind Gillibrand is something Ford "has to think about."
Exactly. Where is Harold Ford's base? Wall Street bankers mainly. Most of whom do not live in New York and many of whom are not even registered Democrats. Since Black, Hispanic, and Asian voters are also heavily favoring Gillibrand according to the polls, where does he begin to build? Union voters and LGBT voters are dead set against him. All he's got left is upper income suburban voters (the Westchester types) and that's not nearly enough to win a primary. Especially since he just got here and nobody knows who he is.
Kos wrote in The Hill that "Ford Falls Apart:"
Ford claims to have moved to New York three years ago, yet he’s never paid taxes in the state, making him either a liar or a tax cheat. It’s probably the former, because in 2009, responding to suggestions that he run for governor of Tennessee this year, he was very clear in his embrace of Tennessee even as he passed on the race: "My passion for using public policy to overcome the challenges our state faces and my love for Tennessee and our country remain high. I will continue to stay involved to advocate for ideas that will help Tennesseans secure a bright economic future. I will continue teaching at Vanderbilt University, speaking and writing on major issues ... " Our state? And to underscore his commitment to his real home state: "There will be another race and time to ask for your support." Yup, definitely a liar.
No wonder he’s laid down preconditions for interviewing him, since every move he makes is contradictory. He complains about coverage of his pedicures and posh lifestyle — "This race isn’t about feet, it’s about issues" — yet he ducks questions about his laughable claims that he’s always been pro-choice and gay-friendly. And he’s flat-out wrong. This race is about both the issues and his inability to identify with the suffering of middle-class New Yorkers.
Bottom line: Ford's entire rollout has been an abysmal failure. He isn't gaining any traction in the polls. He's hit tough opposition from established New York constituencies. He's fumbled a losing message. He's animated a tough incumbent. If Ford runs, he is going to get beat bad in the primary, which will probably finish him off in politics for good. The "loser" stamp will get as affixed to his forehead as it is to Mark Green.