Just as I expected, the momentum is swinging again. Last week Ford saw his slim lead vanish as Corker and his RNC pal's pushed racist and nasty television ads. Ford did not go the way of John Kerry and take the high road. My thought on that matter is when your opponent pulls a knife, you pull a cannon.
Ford refused to be swiftboated and fought back.
Now the polls are showing a swing back in Ford's direction. This is the first in what I believe to be a series of polls that show Ford regaining his lead.
The national publicity that the RNC's ad received, mixed with just about every pundit calling it racist and over the top, and Ford's quick and humerous response, smacked Bob Corker back down to where he belongs.
Bob Corker kept saying he couldn't get the RNC to pull the ad. In my opinion this either makes him a liar or a failure. Let the republicans decide which.
SUSA Poll
And now I know theres a story on the front page by kos, talking about how he won't cry if Ford doesn't win. He makes a good point, but let me tell you why I will cry if Ford does not win. Al Gore.
Al Gore was a DLC thumping conservative when he ran for the Senate in TN. He didn't hold the "key" progressive values, it seems to be necessary to hold in order to gain support from most that visit here. Ask Al Gore in the 80's what his opinion on gay marriage was. Hell, if he was running for election today in TN, ask him what his opinion on it is. I guarantee you it would be very similar to Ford's response. And how many of you want to throw Al Gore under the bus today? Like it or not you have to play the game to win.
And Harold Ford is doing everything in his power to give control of the Senate to the Democrats. I say we help in any way we can. Because if he loses, we all lose, and I will cry.
Update: After looking at the crosstabs in this SUSA, something that is very interesting and telling is the oversampling of East TN.
West TN - 26%
Middle TN - 33%
East TN - 41%