At last check the dead voters who cast ballots for Ophelia Ford in the Tennessee state special election are still dead. Too bad nobody witnessed them casting ballots or we might have made the Art Bell show.
For those not familiar, Ophelia Ford was running for former state Senator John Ford's seat, vacated due to his indictment in the Operation Tennessee Waltz sting earlier this year. And yes they are related- Ophelia is John's sister. They also have a famous brother, Harold Ford, Sr., who also has an indictment on his resume.
And wowzers, Ophelia also has a famous nephew named Harold Ford, Jr., currently in Congress and running for the U.S. Senate in next year's election. And you thought nepotism was only rampant in the Bush family.
So here's the national angle. The Senate is already close and it would be a coup for the democrats to pick up a seat from Tennessee. Furthermore, I believe the republican party fears Junior. He comes across as a moderate and rational democrat and has sympathized with president Bush on a number of War on Terror issues.
In the linked story you can read about how his pop Harold Sr. accused a republican poll worker of manufacturing the dead voter scandal as a way to tarnish Junior. Here's another one. While I'd have trouble believing either Harold Sr. or John if they told me the sky was blue, Junior is smarter. He's actually distancing himself from his dad's remarks.
Tennessee has racial divisions just like blue states (they just won't admit it) and it's no big secret that Junior needs enough white votes from middle and east Tennessee to get the Senate seat. That's a longshot, especially if those voters keep seeing his family members popping up on the news accusing everyone but the Pope of racism. If he's seen as "too Ford" he'll have chance number zip. But personally I wouldn't bet against him. With the Ford family, one never knows.
MORE 12/30
More updates on the dead Memphis voters story can be found at Fishkite, which has been all over this story from the beginning.
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