Former Tennessee congressman Harold Ford Jr.'s northern exposure

Ford's investor-friendly positions as chairman of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council make him an ideal vehicle to protest Obama's "fat cat" insults and Schumer's post-crisis interest in financial regulation. Is that what you're looking for, New York?

By Jason Horowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, January 15, 2010; C01

Harold Ford Jr. has gone viral.

"You can judge from the editorials in the city, and just the response in the city and in the state that people don't want party bosses telling anyone that you can't run," Ford said in a phone interview between meetings in New York on Thursday afternoon. "People want an independent strong voice representing New York in the Senate."

The former Tennessee congressman has reintroduced himself as public muller of a primary challenge against New York's low-polling junior senator, Kirsten Gillibrand (D). Ford has resided in New York for less time than many of the grad students taking his "political reality" class at New York University and he has no discernible support from the Democratic establishment. His conservative record on gay rights, abortion and gun control is so out of step with the party's primary voters that it makes Gillibrand's right-leaning record look progressive. Ford, the son of Tennessee's first black congressman, took a job as a Bank of America Merrill Lynch executive, and has cultivated a core constituency of Wall Street donors, many of whom are frustrated with President Obama's regulatory crackdown and what they see as a sudden cold shoulder from Sen. Chuck Schumer. Yet for all those moneyed ties, Ford has raised nothing -- literally, zilch -- to rival the millions of dollars in Gillibrand's coffers.

But as a shoestring publicity campaign for the Harold Ford brand, his 2010 media blitz has all been something to behold.

The New York political media, famished for a competitive political contest, has been more than willing to entertain this outsider as a potential contender for Gillibrand's seat. Ford, a talented 39-year-old with a book, titled "More Davids Than Goliaths," coming out a few weeks before the U.S. Senate primary this September, has cast his nascent primary challenge as that of a principled Democratic insurgent, staring down Schumer and Obama administration officials who have protected Gillibrand from opponents in the party.

In the interview, Ford said that the notion that he was doing this for publicity was "insulting to voters."

New Yorkers, he said, deserve a candidate who would fight for their interests, tax breaks and a health-care overhaul beneficial to the state, which he believes is not being done now. "Independence and jobs" were his echoing watchwords. "That's not about publicity," Ford said "That's real."

So, too, is the tacit approval of New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who privately boosted Caroline Kennedy's Senate bid after Hillary Clinton was appointed secretary of state. A year later, Bloomberg appears less invested though decidedly comfortable with letting his loyal operatives make a few bucks; his pollster Doug Schoen and campaign manager Bradley Tusk are advising Ford.

Like Bloomberg, Ford defends Wall Street bonuses as critical to the city's tax base. When asked in the interview whether he himself had received a bonus from his employer, his spokesman, Davidson Goldin, interrupted, as he did on other topics not related to Ford's rationale for running, which the media handler understood to be the sole focus of the interview. At that point in the interview, Ford stayed silent, but Goldin later offered that Ford's "salary is set by contract."

While Ford refused to compare himself to politicians who ultimately dropped their primary bids against Gillibrand, he acknowledged that his has been received differently.

"Maybe it's the benefit of time. People have had the opportunity to experience some of the policies passed in Washington," said Ford, adding, "and there is dissatisfaction with Senator Gillibrand."

Gillibrand, who has sat back and waited for intervention on her behalf from Schumer or the White House, is getting more involved.

"The notion that 'Tennessee' Harold Ford is an independent outsider is completely contrived," said Jefrey Pollock, Gillibrand's political adviser. "But his extreme views against reproductive rights, against marriage equality and against immigration are all too real. Kirsten Gillibrand is not backing down from this fight."

* * *

For Ford's rebel rationale to have any credibility, he needed a villain. He found one in Schumer, his former benefactor who raised money and campaigned for Ford during his narrow defeat to Bob Corker in the 2006 U.S. Senate race in Tennessee. Schumer has successfully swatted away Gillibrand's would-be primary challengers, and Ford argued that party pressure on him not to run "exacerbated" the situation and sped up his timetable.

"The only person Chuck Schumer has to blame is himself and his fellow Washington insiders for having the gall to interfere with a free election," said Goldin, Ford's spokesman. "And for blocking an independent Democrat from running."

But according to a source in Schumer's office familiar with conversations between Schumer and Ford, the senator called Ford after a November Politico story reported that the Memphis native was exploring his chances against Gillibrand. They agreed to a face-to-face meeting to discuss Ford's New York political future. But on the morning of the meeting, the New York Times reported that Ford was "weighing" a challenge to Gillibrand. In the days that followed, the Times reported the substance of the meeting under the headline "Schumer Urges Ford Not to Run."

"The only person the senator has talked to about Ford not running was Ford himself," said a person close to Schumer, who was granted anonymity to discuss the private conversations. The Schumer intimate suggested that Ford exploited his meeting with Schumer to build up his insurgent story line.

"He has not talked to anyone else because he has no interest in feeding this David-versus-Goliath fairy tale that seems to be the only thing the Ford campaign has going for it right now," the person close to Schumer said.

The Ford camp denies any such setup.

The White House and leaders in Washington have been less careful about fueling the Ford phenomenon. During a White House briefing on Jan. 11, press secretary Robert Gibbs reiterated the administration's support for Gillibrand. But then by telling reporters to "stay tuned" for administration efforts to knock Ford out, Gibbs may have unwittingly boosted Ford's status as an anti-establishment comer.

On Jan. 12, Ford sat down again for dinner with Schoen, the Bloomberg pollster, at the apartment of Richard Plepler, an HBO executive who is taking a leading role in promoting Ford's potential candidacy, according to a source with knowledge of the dinner who was granted anonymity to speak of the private meeting. Ford has also kept in daily touch with Tusk, Bloomberg's reelection manager.

"I'm involved a lot and Mayor Bloomberg is not," said Tusk, who said he is providing free advice for now but would sign on with Ford if he runs. As might be expected in New York politics, Tusk is himself a former aide to Schumer. "I deeply admire and respect Chuck and always have," he said. "But Gillibrand is her own entity."

Tusk argued that while Ford is not a household name among regular New York voters yet, he "has the ability to be known. The ability to raise money and the ability, clearly, to do press."

* * *

The one constituency with whom Ford does have high name-recognition is the city's top Democratic bundlers. "At least among my friends, Harold has an extremely strong base," said Orin Kramer, an investor at Boston Provident whose early support for Obama imbued him with gravity in the New York donor firmament. While Ford has yet to raise a cent for the race, Kramer said he would have financial support if he in fact ran.

"People regard him quite properly as an extraordinary political talent," Kramer said.

"We bonded with him years ago and he is one of our friends," said Robert Zimmerman, another influential fundraiser and Democratic National Committeeman. But according to several of these bundlers, it's not all about friendship. A show of support for Ford's potential candidacy also sends a message to Washington.

Ford's investor-friendly positions as chairman of the centrist Democratic Leadership Council make him an ideal vehicle to protest Obama's "fat cat" insults and Schumer's post-crisis interest in financial regulation.

"Mr. President, you did what you need to do, we now have to do what we have to do," said one prominent member of New York's Democratic donor universe, who was granted anonymity to freely reflect the sentiments of his peers. The donor said Wall Street needed to elect Ford as a "champion for New York's economy and financial services sector," because Schumer "is preoccupied with being majority leader and a national leader, and our junior senator is a second vote for Chuck."

("Nobody stands up for New York's economy more than Senator Schumer," said Schumer spokesman Brian Fallon. "But that doesn't mean doing whatever the banks want even when they're wrong.")

Many of these donors are simply underwhelmed by Gillibrand, whose garrulousness is much noted, and have not embraced her as they did Clinton before her. Gillibrand has expressed irritation at her inability to crack into the uppermost echelons of the fundraising circuit, namely into the sprawling Fifth Avenue apartment of the first couple in Democratic Party fundraising, Steven Rattner and Maureen White.

Rattner, the Bloomberg confidant and money manager, former Obama car czar and Times reporter who remains close with the paper's owner, Arthur Sulzberger, has gushed about Ford in print. According to one Gillibrand supporter, the senator has ascribed the reason for her discord with the couple to a broken-off relationship with White's younger brother more than a decade ago.

"If I got mad at every girlfriend one of my five brothers ever dated, I'd be mad at a lot of people," White said. "The only relevant part of that story is I've known her longer than most people.

"I'm not enthusiastic about Kirsten for a very simple reason," White continued, "New York State needs someone great. It's not clear to me that she has the talent to follow in the footsteps of Robert Kennedy, Daniel Patrick Moynihan or Hillary Clinton."

If Ford gets elected, White said, "he'll be a national presence for New York State from day one."

* * *

In 2006, Schumer, then chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and architect of the Democratic takeover of the chamber, recruited Ford as the nominee to fill the seat vacated by Tennessee's Bill Frist. Schumer called him "a great candidate" and helped Ford raise millions of dollars for a bruising and tight contest against Corker, a Republican. The contest is perhaps most remembered for a racially charged ad aired by the Republican Party at the end of the election, in which a winking blonde said she met the unmarried Ford at a Playboy party. Schumer released funds to keep Ford ads airing on television until Election Day. But he fell just short.

Soon after his defeat, Ford started spending substantial time in New York City and became an official resident in 2008. Like Bloomberg, he got to know the benefit circuit, squiring around his now-wife, Emily Threlkeld, an executive with the fashion designer Carolina Herrera and the stepdaughter of Wall Street grandee Anson Beard -- as well as the table-hopping nightspots, like Graydon Carter's Waverly Inn.

An interview in the New York Times on Jan. 13 revealed the chasm between Ford and his recession-weary constituents more starkly. He preferred the Giants over the Jets because he was closer to their owner. He had been to Staten Island only by helicopter. He got pedicures.

For now, at least, Ford is counting on media interest in a competitive race and the strength of his anti-establishment message to keep his campaign going, whatever the ultimate goal.

"I'm considering it more and more seriously every day," he said.