Month: November 2006

Memphis, choose your side. This weekend, there will be conflicting awareness-raising events representing both sides of Amendment One. Amendment One …

, if passed, would constitutionally recognize only marriages between a man and a woman. Same-sex marriage is already illegal in the state.

RealMarriage.org and its “Vote Yes” bus will make its last stop of a five-day statewide tour at the Agricenter on Saturday, November 3rd at 4 p.m. The public is invited.

Meanwhile, supporters of the Memphis Gay Lesbian Community Center have been holding up anti-amendment signs on various street corners since September. On Saturday, they’ll be at Union and McLean from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday through Tuesday, the group will be at the Union and McLean and Poplar and McClean at various times. The public is invited to join them.

Among those present in front-row seats for former President Clinton’s visit were (l to r) state Senator Steve Cohen, actress Cybill Shepherd, Shelby County mayor A C Wharton, and Memphis mayor Willie Herenton. Rep. Ford introduced the two mayors as a group and Shepherd separately but did not introduce Cohen. Clinton, however, made a point of acknowledging Cohen later when he was introduced by Rep. Ford and took the dais.

Cohen is the Democratic nominee for Rep. Ford’s soon-to-be-vacated 9th District congressional seat, which is also being sought by Republican Mark White, who was not present, and independent Jake Ford, the congressman’s brother, who was.

Jake Ford himself was never introduced by name, either by Rep. Ford or by Clinton, but both acknowledged the presence of the Ford “brothers.”

In yet another of the confrontations that have marked his congressional race, Jake Ford, also in a front-row seat along with brother Isaac, declined a handshake and aimed harsh words at local Democratic Party chairman Matt Kuhn, who happened by before Wednesday’s program began. Kuhn said Ford was apparently miffed at remarks he made in support of party nominee Cohen during an East Memphis Rotary Club debate last week

Former president Bill Clinton made a special appearance in Memphis Wednesday on senatorial candidate Harold Ford Jr.’s behalf. Speaking to a large crowd at the COGIC Temple of Deliverance, Clinton hailed Rep. Ford’s Senate bid as an opportunity for the country to move “beyond race.” The former president acknowledged possible differences of opinion on some issues but said, “If we agree on everything, one of us isn’t thinking.”

Also on the stage with Clinton and Ford were Tennessee congressmen John Tanner of the nearly 8th congressional district and Lincoln Davis of the 4th District, which snakes through all three grand divisions of the state.

Tanner and Davis, like Ford himself, are members of the conservative “Blue Dog” caucus, a fact which prompted Clinton to tell the trio they had “taken race out of redneck.”

In an allusion to the controversial RNC ad playing off Ford’a attendance to Playboy-sponsored Super Bowl party, one in which a scantily clad woman says flirtatiously, “Call me, Harold,” Clinton (who had a problem or two along these lines during his presidency) voiced approval of Ford’s response: “‘I plead guilty. I like football and girls.'”

Clinton said Ford’s victory was necessary as a part of overdue political change, away from the “ideologues” now in charge in Washington. To that end, he foresaw a coalition between legitimate progressives and conservatives in Congress.

On Iraq, Clinton disputed Republican allegations that Democrats wanted to “cut and run,” saying, “What we want to do is stop and think.”