This is my first attempt at a diary on here (new registered user, long-time reader) and approach this with some trepidation. At any rate, heard something interesting in Memphis on my drive to work today.
The house seat here was the one formerly held by Ford, and is, of course, open with his run at the Senate. The race is between dem Steve Cohen (state senator), repub candidate Mark White, and, the twist, Ford's brother Jake running as an independent (but promising to caucus with the dems if elected). At any rate, it is a weird dynamic, with Memphis' traditional strong african-american voting bloc being wooed by Jake Ford, and I am not sure how that is playing in terms of the race between Cohen and White. I am especially curious about what polls are saying over here now, because the repubs ran an ad this morning on one of the local sports radio shows in town that went something like this (very rough paraphrase):
"repubs have a historic chance to take a supposed 'safe' democratic seat this election cycle here in Memphis. With Jake Ford and Steve Cohen splitting votes, every republican needs to go to the polls. Nancy Pelosi and the democrats already think they have the house won. Wouldn't it be nice to show them they are wrong and take a supposed safe seat in the process? turn out and vote on Nov. 7."
At any rate, it caught me off-guard. I have already voted early (for Cohen) and Cohen is endorsed by all of the local strong democratic politicians (both county mayors) as well as Gov. Bredesen. Ford Jr. has professed neutrality with regard to his brothers run at his seat, but the strong Ford political machine is definitely behind Jake's run (http://www.time.com/...)(sorry for the long text, don't know how to link it right yet).
The repub ad concerned me. Not sure if their internal polls are showing a chance to steal this seat with the weird dynamic of Jake Ford in the race as an independent, and the themes they sounded in that ad (dems overconfident, Nancy Pelosi is evil etc. etc.) were a different tact than I have ever heard them take, for obvious reasons. Just wanted to take a moment to see if anyone knows anything about this race and implore dems in Memphis Shelby County not to sleep on this race and turn out and vote (preferably for Cohen).