Just like the Terminator, Harold Ford Jr. vowed in a story in our local news section today that he'll be back.
But if he runs against U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander in two years, I'm wondering if it'll be his political career that gets terminated.
With Tennessee trending Republican in recent years, any Democrat faces tough odds in a statewide race. Not impossible, as Gov. Phil Bredesen has amply demonstrated, but tough.
The thinking here is that it would be a lot more difficult for Ford to beat a popular incumbent Republican than it would have been to win an open seat against Bob Corker, who had to survive a bruising primary that divided Republican party loyalties.
Losing a close race to Corker apparently didn't do much damage to Ford's political stock. But losing two races in two years might stigmatize him as, well, a loser.
Anyway, if Ford's got presidential ambitions, it's hard to imagine why he'd want to run for Senate anyway. This country hasn't elected a senator to be president since JFK.
Governors are a different story, though. Americans have elevated plenty of governors to the White House through the years. (In fact, trivia points to anyone who can name the last president who didn't serve as a governor beforehand.)
And if Ford were to run for the Tennessee governor's seat in four years, he might even be able to wrangle Bredesen's endorsement. (Which would be valuable as long as Bredesen remains popular during his final term.)
Of course, Ford will need to be doing something between now and then to keep himself busy and his name in the limelight. Selling Amway probably isn't going to cut it.
Speaking of Fords, Edmund's legal troubles got me to thinking about who might fill the City Council's District 6 seat if he has to step down.
I'm guessing either Jake or Sir Isaac (or both?) might jump in to make sure the seat stays in the family.
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