The Blog Formerly Known As Vote '08

UPDATE/October 11th: I’m putting this post back above the fold because Harold Ford has weighed in on the issue described below in Saturday (Oct. 11th)’s Washington Post:

“While I am disappointed in McCain’s about-face, I am not surprised. When I ran for the Senate in 2006, my opponent, Bob Corker, also found himself trailing in the October polls. His campaign and the Republican National Committee launched a series of false and vicious character attack ads, including the infamous “call me” ad, in which a scantily clad white woman looked at the camera and said, “Harold, call me.”

Every major news organization and independent ad-checking group ruled the ad a smear and deemed it way over the line. But that didn’t stop John McCain from coming to Tennessee and campaigning for my opponent while the “call me” ad and other smears were broadcast across the state. Not once did McCain speak out against that ad as he did about the smear against John Kerry. In fact, the first manager he hired for his 2008 presidential campaign was Terry Nelson, the person who produced the “call me” ad. Nelson has such a history of practicing below-the-belt politics that Lee Iacocca, a strong supporter of McCain, wrote in his book “Where Have All the Leaders Gone?”: “What does it say about John McCain that he’s willing to make that kind of person the head of his team?”

This election may be the most consequential since Franklin Roosevelt won the presidency in 1932. Our country is at war in Iraq and in Afghanistan. The American dream isfalling further out of reach of millions of families. We face intense competition from rising economic powers in Asia. And after eight years of the failed leadership of President Bush and Vice Presient Cheney, our image and standing around the globe are in disrepair. Our budget is burdened with runaway entitlement costs, and our public education system is failing our children.

John McCain has to make a choice over the next 3 1/2 weeks. Will he succumb to base impulses and take the country down a path littered with smears and personal attacks? Or will he focus on the future with straight talk and big ideas? America deserves solutions for its problems. Where are McCain’s plans to replace the 750,000 jobs lost since the beginning of the year, to stop our financial meltdown, and to help the families hammered by the prices of gas, food and health care?

Both men of that contentious 2006 campaign have spoken, & both say there is much to regret. Looking back, this Senate race really was the “dress rehearsal” for what we’re going through now. What mistakes were made that we’ve learned from? Which ones did we make that we haven’t yet? Please weigh in with a comment. All viewpoints are welcome.

Read the original entry from earlier this week:

I came across this Vote08 post from May 18th which may give us all a window into what Tennessee Senator (& former Chattanooga mayor) Bob Corker likely thinks of John McCain’s current ‘personal’-style attacks against Barack Obama.

Like McCain, Corker also faced a telegenic ‘rising-star’ African-American candidate during his 2006 Senate race.

The original post highlighted a column by E.J. Dionne in which Corker attempted to explain some recent Congressional losses in traditional GOP districts.

As I point out below, Corker’s term has been a remarkable one in that during the past two years, he has made a concerted effort not to drink the idealistic neo-con GOP Kool-Aid that has led us into an economic & foreign-policy ditch. He has kept his cards close to his vest, & has in general a reality-based, pragmatic approach that should be applauded & encouraged across the board.

I’ve reprinted the May 18th post in full after the jump, & please take careful note of what the Senator has to say; it’s my view that he was 100% on the money then - & in fact, even more so today.

(FROM MAY 18th)

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker shared some thoughts with the Washington Post’s E.J. Dionne on the current state of the GOP & its thrice-tried, thrice failed strategy to win seats in Congress. In his view, his colleagues are not learning the lessons he gained with his experience running against Harold Ford, Junior for the Senate seat he narrowly won in 2006.

Excerpts from the column, with video excerpts to help embellish the points:

“Sen. Bob Corker, a Republican elected in the face of the 2006 Democratic sweep, understands the panic that took hold in his party this week following its loss in a ruby-red district.

Corker is familiar with the feeling. His readiness to tell his story says much about the alienation of many Republicans from the national party’s stale approach to politics and the limits of negative advertising. It is also a warning toGOP strategists who think that personal attacks on Barack Obama will be sufficient to win the presidency.

Facing a tough contest against Harold Ford, Jr., a young, telegenic African American congressman, Corker says he watched his campaign flounder as his consultants ran television ads that tried to paint his opponent, a moderately conservative Democrat, as a “liberal.”

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“They were grotesque,” Corker said of his own commercials in an interview this week. “It was just the same old stuff.” By contrast, he said, Ford’s spots were “fresh and refreshing.”

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[side note/October 9th: yes, we really were upset about gas being $3.03/gallon back in the good old days of 2006.]

Corker, the former mayor of Chattanooga, called in new consultants and switched to a more positive campaign. “We kept the race about Tennessee,” he said. “We focused on my life, on who I was as a person.”

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Independent voters who had been attracted to Ford started moving Corker’s way.

Yet the national party almost blew the race near the end, Corker said, by running an ad that many saw as racist. The commercial, aired without Corker’s knowledge, included a young, blonde, white actress declaring that she had met Ford “at the Playboy party.” It ended with her whispering the words: “Harold, call me.”

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Corker was furious, and not just because his six-point lead melted into a four-point deficit. The party eventually pulled the radioactive ad, and Corker won narrowly. The senator has advised Republican colleagues in tough races this year to resist national party ads that mention their opponents.

…

…Corker said voters did not believe the Republicans were “solving the major problems,” notably guaranteeing Americans health coverage. “We just haven’t been responsible,” Corker said. “We deserve to be where we are. I hope we right ourselves.”

In his two years in the Senate thus far, Bob Corker has done a good job, I think, of keeping a long view of his party, & not getting wrapped up in taking stands based on the political expediency of the moment. Republicans would do themselves a favor by listening to him.

I will say that on the other hand, as one who viewed the “Harold, Call Me” ad ad infinitum/ad nauseum when it aired on NewsChannel 9, it’s my opinion that Corker did not act quickly enough to pull the ad from the airwaves, especially if what he says about it today is true. It was effective for his campaign. That’s part of why the GOP is still betting all their chips on this kind of strategy in the districts they lost this year. It will be interesting to see which Corker (”candidate” or “senator”) the GOP will heed.

What do you think? Post a comment!

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