What Does Her Race Have To Do With It?
Posted on October 12, 2008 at 4:31 pmHarold Ford, Jr. takes John McCain to task for not denouncing an ad from his 2006 Senate Race:
While I am disappointed in McCain’s about-face, I am not surprised. When I ran for the Senate in 2006, my opponent, Bob Corker, also found himself trailing in the October polls. His campaign and the Republican National Committee launched a series of false and vicious character attack ads, including the infamous “call me” ad, in which a scantily clad white woman looked at the camera and said, “Harold, call me.”
Every major news organization and independent ad-checking group ruled the ad a smear and deemed it way over the line. But that didn’t stop John McCain from coming to Tennessee and campaigning for my opponent while the “call me” ad and other smears were broadcast across the state. Not once did McCain speak out against that ad as he did about the smear against John Kerry. In fact, the first manager he hired for his 2008 presidential campaign was Terry Nelson, the person who produced the “call me” ad.
What exactly is the point of inserting the word “white” in the above sentence? Is Harold Ford suggesting that the ad contained some sort of racial code?
Because back in the day, Ford himself said he didn’t think “race had anything to do with that ad.”
So has Ford changed his mind on the now infamous ad or is he subtly using a myth that has been allowed to gestate in the national media’s subconscious for craven political advantage?
The language in an op/ed like this one is very carefully chosen and reviewed. Can we really pretend to assume that the word “white” was just a descriptive adjective choice? Or must we conclude thatFord was trying to send the message that he now agrees with the popular media myth about the “Call Me” ad?
Which is it? Was the ad racial code or not?
UPDATE: From just this week:
As Harold Ford Jr. told me in Nashville: “If Barack were not African-American, they’d be doing this.”
Sometimes The “Call Me” Ads Write Themselves: Obama Kisses Jill Biden On The Lips
Posted on August 28, 2008 at 6:52 amBrian Hornback cannot believe what he saw last night during Barack Obama’s surprise appearance at the Democratic Convention:
I was watching CSPAN and when Obama surprisingly appeared on stage Obama kissed Jill Biden squarely on the lips. For the record she ran backstage until she had the whole Biden family. Big Joe should have slugged Obama right then, right there. He should have defended his wife’s honor.
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Bredesen Says “Call Me” Ad Helped Harold Ford, Jr.
Posted on August 3, 2008 at 10:08 pmContrary to conventional wisdom, Governor Phil Bredesen tells Politico that the infamous “Call Me” ad actually hurt Bob Corker in his ultimately successful campaign against Harold Ford, Jr. in the 2006 Tennessee U.S. Senate race and warns the McCain campaign against sparking similar anti-racist blowback with its advertising:
“The reality of the ad, which I think ought to be a lesson for McCain right now, is that ad helped Harold Ford, absolutely,” Bredesen said.
According to the governor, Corker’s polling showed a significant reaction against the ad, with the Republican Senate candidate going from a lead of 6 points to a deficit of 4 in less than a week.
Bredesen explained the drop as the product of a backlash among white voters.
“There’s all sorts of white swing voters for whom the idea of sending an attractive, young — obviously at the beginning of a great career — black man up to Washington is a very attractive prospect,” the Democratic governor explained. “And I think they were offended.”
Ultimately, Ford lost by fewer than 3 percentage points, and some of his advisers believe the commercial was a contributing factor.
Most political observers, while quibbling over its racial connotations, almost universally concur that the ad helped the Corker campaign define their man as the “real Tennessean” in that race.
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Senator Bob Corker Calls His 2006 Campaign Ads “Grotesque”
Posted on May 16, 2008 at 7:27 amE.J. Dionne catches Senator Bob Corker in a candid, reflective mood while reminiscing about his 2006 campaign against Harold Ford, Jr.:
Facing a tough contest against Harold Ford Jr., a young, telegenic African American congressman, Corker says he watched his campaign flounder as his consultants ran television ads that tried to paint his opponent, a moderately conservative Democrat, as a “liberal.”
“They were grotesque,” Corker said of his own commercials in an interview this week. “It was just the same old stuff.” By contrast, he said, Ford’s spots were “fresh and refreshing.”
Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga, called in new consultants and switched to a more positive campaign. “We kept the race about Tennessee,” he said. “We focused on my life, on who I was as a person.” Independent voters who had been attracted to Ford started moving Corker’s way.
Yet the national party almost blew the race near the end, Corker said, by running an ad that many saw as racist. The commercial, aired without Corker’s knowledge, included a young, blonde, white actress declaring that she had met Ford “at the Playboy party.” It ended with her whispering the words: “Harold, call me.”
Corker was furious, and not just because his six-point lead melted into a four-point deficit. The party eventually pulled the radioactive ad, and Corker won narrowly. The senator has advised Republican colleagues in tough races this year to resist national party ads that mention their opponents.
Burning The Little Black Book: Harold Ford, Jr. Marries Emily Threlkeld In Miami
Posted on April 27, 2008 at 11:25 pmWhile there are still certainly a myriad of potential roadblocks to his running for or winning a statewide race in Tennessee, one thing is for sure, Harold Ford, Jr. has solved his “bachelor problem“:
Around 300 guests, including the elite of Memphis and Washington, gathered at Miami’s Trinity Cathedral Episcopal Church Saturday to witness the nuptials of Harold Ford, Jr. and socialite Emily Threlkeld. The lavish ceremony included a total of 26 attendants for the bride and groom.
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