Capitol Commentary

By: Pat Nolan
www.newschannel5.com


In politics it's not just the friends who can help you. Sometimes it's your enemies.

For example, I recently received the most surprising e-mail from Harold Ford, Jr.'s U.S. Senate campaign. I have never seen anything quite like it before. The Ford campaign sent me an e-mail that contained a news release critical of their candidate.

Say what?

Why would they do that, you ask?

It's simple.

The news release concerns critical comments made about Ford's TV ad recently done inside a church. The criticism comes from the American Atheist organization, which says the Ford spot is divisive, religionizing important public policy issues and crosses the line between the separation of church and state.

But for a guy like Harold Ford, Jr. who is being attacked day and night on TV all over Tennessee by his opponent Bob Corker and the National GOP for being too liberal or far out on the issues, being attacked by Atheists sounds pretty good politically and could help undercut some of the Corker/GOP attacks. Answered prayers was the way one Ford staffer put it quietly. And by the way, have you noticed that the Corker campaign (and its blogs) have written or said absolutely nothing about the Ford church ad, which people across the state and the nation are still buzzing about (and a lot of that buzz appears positive).

Sending out news release critical of its candidate is not the only thing the Ford campaign is doing to try and distance him from the charges of being too liberal for Tennessee. I also received a recent opinion column from a San Francisco newspaper. It complained about how conservative Ford is on some many issues. Of course, too conservative for California (especially the San Francisco area) could still be way off the charts for liberal in Tennessee, but you get my drift about why the Ford campaign wants to circulate stuff like this in the media when they find it. They also are firing back at Corker over the hottest issue in Tennessee and across the country this election year: illegal immigration. They are doing it with a new TV spot going after Corker for owning a company once caught and charged with employing illegals.

Corker is continuing to hammer Ford for being too liberal for Tennessee including a new radio spot called Boston which seeks to show how Ford's voting record is closer to Northeast Congressional liberals like Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and (of course) Hilleary Clinton (even though she doesn't represent the Boston area but hey, when you're on a roll who care about little facts like that, right?)

As a quick aside, aren't you just waiting for these guys to start blaming each other for spinach e-coli outbreak? Or maybe Popeye did it?

Corker is clearing trying to scare his base into uniting behind him, and after the behind the scenes criticism of his statewide campaign by national Republican Party leaders, he is taking steps to shore up his grassroots efforts, hiring a seasoned and successful Tennessee GOP operative as well as naming a grassroots leadership team with representatives from all 95 counties of the state. Even defeated primary opponent Ed Bryant is showing how much he is on board with Corker, sending out a statewide letter urging all Republicans to unite behind the former Chattanooga mayor to keep Harold Ford out of the Senate.

But still problems persist. Ed Bryant was strongly endorsed by the Tennessee Right to Life organization in the primary but THE NASHVILLE CITY PAPER in a recent story says the leadership of that key GOP group will still not endorse Corker.

Meanwhile, as I told you in the last column, Congressman Ford is not taking The National Rifle Association's endorsement of Corker without fighting back. While the Corker campaign news release trumpeted NRA ratings that reportedly gave Ford grades of F on Second Amendment issues, the Ford campaign has sent out to the media a letter (dated September 14, 2006). It is from Chris Cox the Chairman of the NRA's Political Victory Fund with a very different message.

It says: based on your congressional voting record, and your firm pledge of support on issues of importance to America's law-abiding gun owners, you have been rated a B by NRA-PVF. We appreciate your votesYour rating will be communicated to all NRA members in the Volunteer StatePlease feel free to communicate your rating as you see fit.

You can bet he will. As for Corker, it may also be hard for him to tout his NRA endorsement with a TV ad showing him out hunting.. That's because his state hunting license has reportedly expired while he has been busy out on the campaign trail.

Speaking of being busy, I am sure both sides are getting ready for the upcoming debates. First there's the home and home series beginning October 7 in Memphis (Ford's turf), followed three days later on October 10 with the candidates squaring off in Chattanooga (Corker's hometown). Then there's a final and only statewide debate in Nashville (on NewsChannel 5 and across the state on CBS affiliates) set for October 28.

And there's still more national media exposure for the campaign. While declining a joint appearance on MEET THE PRESS, Corker appeared recently on a conservative cable program (Larry Kudlow) on CNBC. So did Harold Ford but at Corker's insistence (say the Ford people) he had to be on a different segment of the show.

So slowly Ford and Corker are getting closer to finally appearing together to discuss the issues on TV. Based on the way he keeps acting, it must be something Corker is not particularly looking forward to doing.

Finally, it will be interesting to see (when the next round of polls come out) if the resurgence of support for the GOP (and to some extent President Bush) nation-wide is impacting the Tennessee Senate race. Of course, it has also been more than convenient that gas prices have started to drop sharply just as the election approaches.

Like the President, Corker has certainly been working the key Republican issues in his TV spots (that this election is about the war on terror and national security, issues that the Democrats are not ready or are too liberal handle.). But national trends are not always reflected in local races. Recently the Rasmussen polling group, after reporting a surge in support for the President and the GOP nationally, moved the races of 3 incumbent GOP Senators from tossup into the leaning Democrat category.

Right now, this polling group (like everyone else) has Tennessee as a toss-up contest with early voting just ahead and the final vote now less than 6 weeks away on November 7. That's still several lifetimes in politics and yet time is beginning to run short as we see the home stretch just ahead.