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Harold Ford presents a formidable challenge to New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in the 2010 Democratic primary.
Why? The former Tennessee congressman is a light-skinned African American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one. This makes him palatable -- extremely attractive, even -- to New York's white voters. Perhaps even Latino and black ones, too.
That noted, I stand behind New York's existing junior senator, Ms. Gillibrand.
Who is Ford kidding? Most Big Apple-dwellers have belonged to our Yoga Studios longer than he's lived in the Empire State (36 months).
More importantly, Ford has a problematic political record that overshadows his facial features, complexion, and speech (all fair and lovely). To wit:
* As a Congressman, Ford voted in 2005 for the Sensenbrenner bill, which, among other things, would have incarcerated undocumented immigrants -- and all who assisted them -- for at least one year. While many lawmakers sought common-sense and viable reforms to immigration, Ford stooped to the draconian approach of prosecuting immigrants as felons.
Why? The former Tennessee congressman is a light-skinned African American with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one. This makes him palatable -- extremely attractive, even -- to New York's white voters. Perhaps even Latino and black ones, too.
That noted, I stand behind New York's existing junior senator, Ms. Gillibrand.
Who is Ford kidding? Most Big Apple-dwellers have belonged to our Yoga Studios longer than he's lived in the Empire State (36 months).
More importantly, Ford has a problematic political record that overshadows his facial features, complexion, and speech (all fair and lovely). To wit:
* As a Congressman, Ford voted in 2005 for the Sensenbrenner bill, which, among other things, would have incarcerated undocumented immigrants -- and all who assisted them -- for at least one year. While many lawmakers sought common-sense and viable reforms to immigration, Ford stooped to the draconian approach of prosecuting immigrants as felons.
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