Harold Ford Jr. Weighs a Challenge to Gillibrand

[jimmy olsen]

I approve, for a democrat I like Ford.

Also the Times needs a new editor.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/06/nyregion/06ford.html?hp

Harold Ford Jr. Weighs a Challenge to Gillibrand

By MICHAEL BARBARO
Published: January 5, 2010

Encouraged by a group of influential New York Democrats, Harold Ford Jr., the former congressman from Tennessee, is weighing a bid to unseat Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in this fall's Democratic primary, according to three people who have spoken with him.
Skip to next paragraph
Enlarge This Image
Brendan Smialowski/Reuters

Harold Ford Jr. is said to be trying to line up a network of major donors in the state to test the viability of a Senate candidacy.
Related
Thompson to Run for Mayor in 2013 (January 6, 2010)

Mr. Ford, 39, who moved to New York three years ago, has told friends that he will decide whether to run in the next 45 days. The discussions between Mr. Ford and top Democratic donors reflect the dissatisfaction of some prominent party members with Ms. Gillibrand, who has yet to win over key constituencies, especially in New York City.

About a dozen high-profile Democrats have expressed interest in backing a candidacy by Mr. Ford, including the financier Steven Rattner, who, along with his wife, Maureen White, has been among the country's most prolific Democratic fund-raisers.

"Maureen and I worked hard for Harold in his last race because we think the world of him," Mr. Rattner said, referring to Mr. Ford's run for the Senate in Tennessee in 2006. "He has extraordinary drive and intelligence and will excel at anything that he chooses to do."

Among those who have encouraged Mr. Ford to consider a run are Merryl H. Tisch, the chancellor of the New York State Board of Regents, whose husband, James, is the chief executive of the Loews Corporation, and Richard Plepler, the co-president of HBO, according to people who have spoken with them.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, who has publicly tangled with Ms. Gillibrand, is open to the possibility of supporting a challenger of Mr. Ford's stature, according to those familiar with his thinking.

Those who have expressed interest in a Ford campaign remain skittish about discussing it publicly, citing Ms. Gillibrand's power over billions of dollars in financing around the state. The state's senior senator, Charles E. Schumer, has been aggressively elbowing out potential primary challengers to Ms. Gillibrand.

Mr. Ford, chairman of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council, would begin the race at a significant financial disadvantage: Ms. Gillibrand had raised $5.5 million as of Oct. 1, and is expected to raise tens of millions more.

But he has a formidable track record as a fund-raiser. During his Senate run, he amassed about $15 million, with about a fifth of his contributions coming from New York. Mr. Ford, who is black, may also be able to tap into African-American donors nationwide; the Senate is poised to lose its sole black member, Roland W. Burris of Illinois, at the end of the year.

To test the viability of a candidacy, Mr. Ford is trying to line up a network of major donors across the state in the weeks ahead. "Harold can raise the money," said an executive who has pledged to back him if he runs.

Mr. Ford, the son of former Representative Harold Ford Sr., moved to New York in late 2006 after losing a bitter battle for the Senate. During that race, the Republican Party ran an ad, criticized for its racial overtones, that featured a white actress who said she had met Mr. Ford at a Playboy party.

"Harold, call me," she said coyly in the ad.

In New York, Mr. Ford took a job as vice chairman of Merrill Lynch, where he cultivated close ties to many of the Wall Street executives who are now encouraging him to run. A telegenic politician, he has also maintained a high profile through NBC and MSNBC, which feature him as a regular political commentator.

New Yorkers are unusually welcoming to political newcomers, having elected Hillary Rodham Clinton to the Senate just 10 months after she moved from Washington, D.C., and Robert F. Kennedy, a Massachusetts native, in 1964.

Mr. Ford declined to be interviewed.

Some of the donors who have urged Mr. Ford to consider a run expressed alarm as Ms. Gillibrand, who as a congresswoman represented a conservative upstate district, has abandoned some of her previous positions on issues like gun control and immigration as she prepares to run statewide. Several executives interested in a Ford candidacy said that Ms. Gillibrand's positions echoed Mr. Schumer's and that the state needed a second independent voice in the Senate.

Mr. Ford, who lives in Manhattan, represented a conservative Southern state and, if he runs, may himself have to adjust some of his positions, like his opposition to gay marriage, to appeal to New York voters.

Matt Canter, a spokesman for Ms. Gillibrand, said that "in a short period of time, Senator Gillibrand has built a strong, broad coalition of support across the state," including 20 members of New York's Congressional delegation.

Ms. Gillibrand was appointed by Gov. David A. Paterson last year to fill the seat Mrs. Clinton vacated, in a selection process that was criticized as haphazard and bumbling.

The question of whether Mr. Ford will run is clearly a sensitive one in Democratic circles. After learning that she would be mentioned in this article, Ms. Tisch said, "I am not supporting anyone in this race."

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: January 8, 2010
An article on Wednesday about a possible bid by Harold Ford Jr., a former congressman from Tennessee, for the Senate seat held by Kirsten E. Gillibrand misstated, in some editions, the amount of money Ms. Gillibrand had raised as of Oct. 1, the amount Mr. Ford raised during his run for a Senate seat in Tennessee in 2006, and the percentage of Mr. Ford's total that came from New York. Ms. Gillibrand had raised $5.5 million as of Oct. 1, not $4 million; Mr. Ford raised $15 million in 2006, not $20 million; and a fifth, not a quarter, of that total came from New York. The article also referred incorrectly to the election of Hillary Rodham Clinton, who held the Senate seat before Ms. Gillibrand. Mrs. Clinton was elected 10 months after she moved to New York, not two years, and she moved to New York from Washington, not from Arkansas.

[Faeelin]

I approve, for a democrat I like Ford.

I'm not entirely sure what his claim to fame is. Is a New York Senate seat just a prize to hand out nowadays?

[citizen k]

Is a New York Senate seat just a prize to hand out nowadays?

Seems to be perceived as a stepping stone to bigger things.

[jimmy olsen]

I approve, for a democrat I like Ford.

I'm not entirely sure what his claim to fame is. Is a New York Senate seat just a prize to hand out nowadays?

When he gave interviews he always seemed like a pragmatic moderate and I like that in democrats.

[Sheilbh]

When he gave interviews he always seemed like a pragmatic moderate and I like that in democrats.

In Republicans on the other hand you like fire-breathing extremism?

[Faeelin]

When he gave interviews he always seemed like a pragmatic moderate and I like that in democrats.

What radical stance has Gillibrand given that's upset you?

[jimmy olsen]

When he gave interviews he always seemed like a pragmatic moderate and I like that in democrats.

What radical stance has Gillibrand given that's upset you?

Nothing really, however that leaves her stuck at neutral while I like Ford so he gets my backing.

[jimmy olsen]

When he gave interviews he always seemed like a pragmatic moderate and I like that in democrats.

In Republicans on the other hand you like fire-breathing extremism?

Ah yes, McCain, truly a fire-breathing extremist.

[Eddie Teach]

Interesting move. I suspect he was correct in his chances of ever going beyond the House of Representatives in Tennessee.

[Ed Anger]

Harold Ford Jr: Tainted.

[Scipio]

WTG, Tim.  I bet you endorsed his attempt to become Speaker of the House.  Ehhole.

[Faeelin]

WTG, Tim.  I bet you endorsed his attempt to become Speaker of the House.  Ehhole.

I don't see why you think you know more about him than a teacher in Rhode Island.

[jimmy olsen]

WTG, Tim.  I bet you endorsed his attempt to become Speaker of the House.  Ehhole.

I don't see why you think you know more about him than a teacher in Rhode Island.

Obviously he'd know more about him than me. Though I can't imagine he'd have been worse than Pelosi.

[Faeelin]

WTG, Tim.  I bet you endorsed his attempt to become Speaker of the House.  Ehhole.

I don't see why you think you know more about him than a teacher in Rhode Island.

Obviously he'd know more about him than me. Though I can't imagine he'd have been worse than Pelosi.

Is Pelosi running for New York's Senate too?

[jimmy olsen]

WTG, Tim.  I bet you endorsed his attempt to become Speaker of the House.  Ehhole.

I don't see why you think you know more about him than a teacher in Rhode Island.

Obviously he'd know more about him than me. Though I can't imagine he'd have been worse than Pelosi.

Is Pelosi running for New York's Senate too?

We're talking about his run for Speaker of the House.