Ford Counting on Independence and Passion to Beat Gillibrand

I'm not saying I do or do not support Harold Ford's primary challenge against US Senator Kirsten Gillibrand in 2010, but I do think it is fun and worth speculating how Ford is trying to get a leg up on his competition. If Ford asked for political advice, most any political operative would advise him to find another state to run in or switch parties because the Republicans can't find a candidate.

But since Ford isn't willing to do either of those two things I would have to suggest to Ford that he prove to the Democratic Party that he is more than just serious about his challenge, and then I would also have him immediately start playing off of Gillibrand’s key vulnerabilities on important issues. But Ford didn't need my advice. He got a head start on that project today.

Re-introducing himself as a shrewd politician, with confidence, an attitude and a strong willingness to lead New Yorkers on an energized political crusade against the moderate Democratic establishment, Ford puts himself in the center of the New York media kitchen table with an op-ed in the New York Post. And in a move that would make a sandal blush, Ford quickly flipped-flopped on a string of social conservative positions from his Tennessee days in the US House.

Yesterday, Ford was a Republican dressed up as a Democrat – a rare breed among national Democratic Party politicos. But today, Ford showed New Yorkers that he really wants to represent the concord of liberalism on all of the key litmus test issues: abortion, gay marriage, labor unions and gun control.

What makes Ford almost sound convincing though is that he didn’t change the tune of his music one page at a time, week by week. Instead, he flanked Gillibrand on the left instantaneously, in just one 426-word op-ed. The reason for the sudden conversion is simple – New York’s demographics and the Democratic Party’s ideology dictate a strict adherence to social liberalism.

Beyond that, Ford’s willingness to run as a liberal strikes at the heart of Gillibrand's core vulnerabilities – mainly that she is too moderate for New York City, too slow to lead a progressive agenda, too friendly to gun owners, to unfriendly to immigrants and people of color and maybe – in a phrase – a little too upstate for the rest of New York.

That's why Ford uses politically charged, yet simple and subtle language, to make his introduction,

I know New York is unique... In my three years here, I've learned that New York does not go along to get along. New York does not follow… New Yorkers deserve a free election… expect a politics where politicians do what's right based on independent judgment, free of political bosses trying to dictate.

If you can read between the lines Ford is simply saying: I am one of you and I have learned from you. Let’s not let a small cadre of establishment Democrats tell us who is going to run this unique state we both love. I am a leader, not a follower like Gillibrand, and I will rally the team.

Ford’s introduction to New York voters also includes a disclaimer to the Democratic establishment – keep an open mind. Ford’s candidacy is reminiscent of the Obama campaign in terms of style and substance. And if the politics of Obama taught us anything, it is that no one has to “pay their dues” to rise to the top. In 2010 the establishment doesn’t determine political succession – voters do. In NY-23 voters ultimately rejected the candidate who had “paid her dues,” worked hard to curry favor with the establishment but failed to offer inspiration and passion for the base.

When a political candidate declares their independence and freedom from the political elites, as Ford did today, it often leads to a critical mass of populist support. Maybe Ford is tapping into something that the mainstream media and the political establishment have never fully understood all along – that passion and energy drives politics.