Harold Ford, to his BFF Joe Scarborough this morning:
"I spent seven weeks traveling and listening and learning and I can assure you, voters don't know the junior senator," [Ford] said, referring to Gillibrand. "They can't name a single positive outcome from her, which means one simple thing: She will be labeled for the failures of Washington, the failures of Albany." [...]
He also said this morning that he would have won a primary. But he worried that a "brutal" contest would have weakened the winner against the Republican nominee.
Reality:
In a Marist Poll completed last night, Gillibrand put a little more distance between herself and the former Tennessee Congressman in a hypothetical contest for the nomination. 50% of New York Democratic voters would have backed Gillibrand. 19% reported, however, they would have supported Ford, and labor activist Jonathan Tasini would have taken just 3% of the vote. 28% of Democrats were unsure.
When The Marist Poll last asked this question in early February, 44% of Democrats reported they backed Gillibrand, 27% threw their support behind Ford, and 4% said they were going to cast their ballot for Tasini. 25%, at the time, were unsure.
Harold, traveling "upstate" doesn't count if you're just hanging out in the country homes of your banker buddies.
But here's a new conspiracy theory to ponder: Harold Ford was a creation of the Gillibrand campaign:
“Ford’s short-lived challenge to Gillibrand not only did her no harm, it may have even solidified her support among Democrats,” says Dr. Lee M. Miringoff, Director of The Marist College Institute for Public Opinion.