Ford win would trump race card, Clinton says
2006-11-02
Source: Tennessean.com
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rss feedFormer President Clinton told a Memphis church congregation Wednesday that if Democrat Harold Ford Jr. wins next week's U.S. Senate election, it will represent a "victory of going beyond race."
Clinton spoke at the Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ, a black church in Ford's hometown.
"You know what it will mean if Harold gets elected on Tuesday," Clinton said. "It won't mean what all those columnists and commentators say. It won't mean that it's a victory of race; it will be a victory of going beyond race."
Ford, 36, hopes to become the sixth black U.S. senator in American history and the first black senator elected from the South since the 1870s. His GOP opponent is Bob Corker, former mayor of Chattanooga.
Clinton praised Ford for being an independent thinker who could disagree with his own party. He contrasted Ford with Bush administration officials, whom Clinton called "extremist ideologues in the service of special interests."
After the event with Clinton, Ford traveled to Clarksville for a rally with retired Gen. Wesley Clark, a former Democratic presidential candidate.
Mike Krause, 24, a college student at Austin Peay State University who served in Iraq with the 101st Airborne, gave Ford his Iraq campaign medal.
"As an Iraq veteran, I proudly cast my vote for Harold Ford Jr.," Krause said.
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