Tennessee Senate Race

Political reporter Halimah Abdullah analyzes Tennessee's Senate battle between Harold Ford, Jr. and Bob Corker.

Tavis: What makes this race too close to call?

Halimah Abdullah: Early on, I think both parties weren't expecting quite this level of a horse race between the two candidates. But several weeks ago, Harold Ford, Jr., the Congressman from Memphis, picked up a lot of momentum. And he's been going full steam ever since.

Tavis: What happened a few weeks ago that caused that momentum to kick in?

Abdullah: Well, one of the things that happened, actually, back in August, after the Republican primary, was that the candidate who emerged from that primary basically had to take a little bit of a breather. It was quite a contentious primary between the three candidates in that particular race, and when Corker paused to take a breath, very briefly, roughly a week or so, Ford just kept going. And ever since, he's kind of steamrolled ahead and is fairly neck-in-neck.

Tavis: I know Harold Ford, Jr. well, and I know what makes Harold Ford, Jr. run. The question I wanna ask you from your prism is what makes Harold Ford, Jr. think he can win in Tennessee as a Black man? Running for Bill Frist's seat, no less.

Abdullah: I think that for Congressman Ford and for the National Democratic Party, there's definitely some excitement about some attitudes among voters both here in the state and nationally. Concerns about the Bush administration polling numbers that have been low; worries about the war in Iraq and those types of efforts; and excitement about the fact that another moderate Democrat, Governor Bredesen, was elected to a statewide position a few years ago. So, those things combined kind of adds a degree of excitement to the Ford campaign.

Tavis: Again, everybody covering this race has made note of this, time and time again, that Harold Ford, Jr. is trying to do the impossible as an African American. Speak to that part of the equation, and how that, at the moment, is factoring - the race question, that is, factoring into this race?

Abdullah: It's been interesting to watch that issue play out, or to some degree, watch how it hasn't exactly played out. Our paper, the Memphis Commercial Appeal, along with Mason-Dixon and another paper out East did a poll asking people exactly that question, whether or not people would feel comfortable voting for an African American. And of course in the poll, people say, "Of course."

Read the full transcript