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| Originally Aired: October 6, 2006 |
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Candidates Battle to Fill Frist's Tennessee Senate Seat |
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| In what is becoming one of this cycle's most competitive Senate races, Republican Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker and Rep. Harold Ford, D-Tenn., remain neck and neck to replace retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist. |
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GWEN IFILL: Call it the Tennessee toss-up. Former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker, the Republican, versus Memphis Congressman Harold Ford, the Democrat, two candidates who in age, race, and political experience could not be more different. BOB CORKER (D), Candidate for U.S. Senate: Hey, how are you all? Good to see you! Thank you. It's good to see you all. GWEN IFILL: Corker, 54 years old, spent most of his career building a successful commercial real estate business. CAMPAIGN RALLY SPEAKER: Give it up for the next senator from the state of Tennessee, Harold Ford, Jr.! GWEN IFILL: While 36-year-old Ford has already spent a decade in the House of Representatives. The job they are competing for is the open Senate seat being vacated by Majority Leader Bill Frist. It's one of the choicest plums for either party this year. MARCUS POHLMANN, Rhodes College: You're looking at possibly the first African-American ever elected statewide in Tennessee, only the fourth ever elected in the United States Senate in the entire nation. GWEN IFILL: Add to that the fact that Tennessee has not sent a Democrat to the U.S. Senate in 16 years, and you have a dogfight. Every poll shows Corker and Ford within a point or two of each other. BOB CORKER: All my life, right here with you, I've been doing things to solve problems and really thrown myself in to try and to make a difference in people's lives. It's hard to discern my opponent ever having done that. He's a great talker, and I give him credit for that, a great talker. Look, I know I'm not as good looking as my opponent. But when it comes to solving problems, you guys know that you can count on me to do that every single day in the United States Senate. REP. HAROLD FORD (D), Candidate for U.S. Senate: We will wake up on November 7th, and the only history we will make on November 7th is that everybody in Tennessee will have them a United States senator who will look out for them, who will stand up for them, who will love them, and who will represent them. Thank you, and God bless you! |
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The race
GWEN IFILL: But when Ford talks about making history in his stump speeches, he never mentions race. He says he doesn't have to.REP. HAROLD FORD: We don't talk about it at all. GWEN IFILL: Why not? REP. HAROLD FORD: Why? I mean, voters are looking for a United States senator. They're not looking for a white senator or a black senator or a Latino senator. They're looking for a senator, someone who's going to represent their interest. And voters know who I am. GWEN IFILL: Still, each man is intent on defining the other. Corker's rap on Ford: He's more Washington than Tennessee, more politician than honest broker. CORKER AD NARRATOR: You see Harold Ford, Jr., on TV, and you think he's going places. Well, he is. And he travels in style: 69 privately funded junkets, more than Hillary Clinton and Ted Kennedy combined. GWEN IFILL: Ford's criticism of Corker: He's too rich to know what the average Tennessean cares about. FORD AD NARRATOR: Bob Corker may talk tough about illegal immigration, but the millionaire construction magnate doesn't tell you about the illegal workers arrested on one of his work sites. GWEN IFILL: The ad war has had its effect. Voters interviewed at random recite both arguments. JAMES WILLIAMS, Tennessee Resident: How can you hire somebody to say that we're going to have -- we're going to secure our borders, but you hired people who were not paying Social Security and taxes for your job sites, and you're a millionaire? I don't understand it; I'll never understand it. ED HENDERSON, Tennessee Resident: Harold Ford has the most liberal voting record in the state of Tennessee. That bothers me. AL MONTGOMERY, Tennessee Resident: Ford basically went to school in Washington, D.C., went to law school in Pennsylvania, I believe, graduated and immediately inherited his job. |
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Appealing to conservative voters
GWEN IFILL: Both men are competing for the affections of conservative voters. Corker, at a University of Memphis football game.TENNESSEE RESIDENT: We encourage your support of the unborn. BOB CORKER: Yes, sir, absolutely. You got that. National Right to Life endorsed me. GWEN IFILL: Ford, at the Middle Tennessee State Fair tractor pull. REP. HAROLD FORD: I've been asked to lead us in prayer this evening, and that's what I'm going to do, if everyone would bow their heads with me. Oh, Lord, we recognize we come always in your presence in such humble and thoughtful and thankful ways. GWEN IFILL: Corker finds friendly audiences in the conservative Republican hills of east Tennessee... BOB CORKER: Charlie, how are you, sir? GWEN IFILL: ... as at this businessman's lunch at a lakeside retreat called Camp Dixie. BOB CORKER: I think you understand that, in this race, there truly is a choice, like we've probably not seen in a statewide race before, a clear choice between myself and my opponent. And it goes beyond any kind of partisanship. It's about background. I've lived and breathed and dealt with the kind of things that you've dealt with throughout your careers. My opponent has been in Washington since he was 9 years old. GWEN IFILL: Ford, walking the streets of Corker's hometown of Chattanooga, is attempting to win votes one handshake at a time. Jeremy Cardwell (ph) has never voted for a Democrat. REP. HAROLD FORD: They all want to say I'm some liberal, but, remember, I ran against Nancy Pelosi. I mean, all the guys they paint to be these great raving liberals, and I've been put out of the party a little bit because I'm so conservative on moral and cultural issues. GWEN IFILL: They talked like that for 10 minutes. So after talking to him, what do you think? JEREMY CARDWELL, Tennessee Resident: I think definitely I'll give him a shot, you know, look a little more closely at the issues, because I was just impressed with the fact that he took the time to stand and talk about what he believes. I mean, it's very respectable, I believe. REP. HAROLD FORD: How you doing? |
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Key issues
GWEN IFILL: Ford, in fact, voted for the war in Iraq, as well as for school prayer and against flag-burning.REP. HAROLD FORD: There's a wide belief -- and I think a wrong belief, nationally -- that people in Tennessee are somehow or another so right-wing or so conservative that they could never embrace a candidacy like ours. And what we've seen is the exact opposite. GWEN IFILL: For Republican nominee Bob Corker and House incumbent Harold Ford, Jr., Washington distractions like the congressional page scandal could cut both ways, but so, too, could issues like family, race, and George W. Bush. Harold Ford comes from a long and colorful line of Tennessee politicians. His father, an 11-term congressman, was acquitted of bank fraud in 1993. His uncle, John, is still under indictment. Does your family background help or hurt you in a statewide race? REP. HAROLD FORD: I love my family, and I love who I am. GWEN IFILL: Well, I assume you love your family, but... REP. HAROLD FORD: I love who I am. You need to discuss that with my lord about all that stuff. GWEN IFILL: He saves the tough talk for Corker, even contrasting him with President Bush. REP. HAROLD FORD: I like President Bush. I genuinely like him. I don't agree with him on everything, but I really like him personally. I don't like this guy. We've been around one another, and there's something about him that's just not -- he's not altogether honest about stuff. GWEN IFILL: President Bush has traveled to Tennessee to campaign with Corker, even though polls show he is increasingly unpopular in the state. BOB CORKER: I certainly appreciate him being down here to help with fundraising. That doesn't mean we agree with each other. I don't think two thinking people can ever agree on everything. But certainly I appreciate his help in raising money. GWEN IFILL: Is it fair to say you're running against Washington? BOB CORKER: You know, in a way. I mean, I think all of -- for me, running for office is not running against something. It's running to solve problems and offer yourself to be able to do that. But no doubt my opponent has been there for 10 years, and it's hard to discern any major difference, impact -- I know that that's sometimes difficult in the House. But, you know, there's some degree of that. But really, you know, I'm not the kind of person to run against something; I'm the kind of person to run for something. GWEN IFILL: Corker survived a three-way Republican primary, and he spent millions of dollars of his own money on the campaign. Ford had the luxury of winning his nomination unopposed. TENNESSEE RESIDENT: I want to know how you're going to secure the border. BOB CORKER: With whatever it takes. |
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Personal stances
GWEN IFILL: In the general election, many voters remain focused on conservative issues.TENNESSEE RESIDENT: We're tired of lip-sync. We want something done. We're going to hold you accountable, buddy. BOB CORKER: All right, man. Thank you. We've got to get there first. TENNESSEE RESIDENT: Well, I don't think you've got a problem. JOHN JACOBS, Tennessee Resident: Harold Ford has been conservative for about the last six months when he got into the campaign, but his record overall when he voted in the House is a liberal voting record. GWEN IFILL: Voters like Jeffrie Howard, who lives in Ford's Memphis district, is holding Washington accountable for other things. JEFFRIE HOWARD, Tennessee Resident: There should be ways of changing things so people can get up on their feet, you know? More jobs, create jobs, OK? For the people that need it, the homeless, give them something to go to. Don't just hand them out food and stuff. I talk to them all the time, these down here. Find a way to put them in some kind of program. Instead of giving them a helping hand, just give them a hand, OK? GWEN IFILL: Corker and Ford meet for the first of three debates this weekend. University of Tennessee Professor Bob Swansborough says national dissatisfaction over Iraq and the economy could well play out in Tennessee. BOB SWANSBOROUGH, University of Tennessee: All of these basically are feeling, I think, that Washington doesn't seem to have a grip. And as such, I think that dissatisfaction has been reflected in a call for change, and that can bring about a tidal wave, as we know, on a national level, and could possibly tilt the way this state goes. BOB CORKER: I sure hope you'll consider me in this race. TENNESSEE RESIDENT: Yes, sir. BOB CORKER: Thank you, sir. TENNESSEE RESIDENT: God bless you. BOB CORKER: Thank you, sir. GWEN IFILL: Or it could just come down to who seems more like a son of Tennessee. REP. HAROLD FORD: I ain't going to let you down, I promise. Pray for me. That's all I ask you to do for me, and vote for me.
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