My Man Harold Ford Decides Not to Run for New York Senate Seat

According to The New York Times, my man Harold E. Ford Jr., a longtime Tennessee congressman, said he did not want to endanger the Democrats’ Senate majority with a divisive primary fight in New York. Ford served five terms in the House, in the Memphis-area seat that his father had held before him. In 2006, Ford gave up the House to run for the Senate but lost to Republican Bob Corker (who is, in my opinion, doing a very good job as a voice of reason in the GOP).

While this was a close call and I think Ford has probably made the correct call under all the current circumstances, I did not appreciate the behind-the-scenes effort to keep him out of the race. For example, Senate majority leader Harry Reid (who would seem to have his own hands full in getting re-elected) called Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to discourage him from supporting Ford, and New York Senator Charles Schumer met personally with Ford to argue against his candidacy.