From Roll Call
December 14, 2005
Former President Bill Clinton helped Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D)
raise more than $300,000 for his Senate campaign Monday night at an event in New
York.
Clinton was the special guest for the fundraiser at the Core Club, located on
E. 55th St., where guests paid $1,000 to $4,200 for admission.
That same night, former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) and House Majority
Leader Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) were just a couple of blocks away in Midtown helping
raise that same amount for seven Republican House Members’ re-election bids.
Ford, who had raised almost $2 million for his bid through the end of
September, is the frontrunner for the Democratic nomination in the race to fill
the Senate seat of retiring Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R).
He showed $1.7 million in the bank at the end of the third
quarter.
— Lauren W. Whittington
From
The Washington Post
Posted at 12:30 PM ET,
12/15/2005
Tenn.: Harold Ford Jr. Changes
Horses
Democratic Rep.
Harold Ford Jr., who is running for Tennessee’s open Senate
seat, has jettisoned his original consultants and brought in a new team of
political pros as the campaign heads into the election year.
Ford parted way with pollster Harrison Hickman
of the Global Strategy Group and media consultant
Marius Penczner of Penn Schoen Berland and Associates.
Hickman did a poll for Ford as recently mid-October showing the five-term
congressman with a huge primary lead over state Sen.
Rosalind Kurita, and narrower edges over his three
potential Republican rivals — former Reps.
Van Hilleary and
Ed Bryant as well as former Chattanooga Mayor
Bob Corker.
To replace Hickman and Penczner, Ford has brought on
Pete Brodnitz of the Benenson Strategy Group to handle
the campaign’s survey research and Jim Margolis of GMMB
as his lead media consultant.
Brodnitz is one of the hottest pollsters on the Democratic
side, having guided Virginia Gov.-elect Tim Kaine to victory
last month. As (further) evidence of the incredibly incestuous nature of the
consulting world, Brodnitz used to work for Penn Schoen.
Margolis, too, is a rising star. He was a key adviser (for a
time) to the presidential bid of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry and has been in
on recent strategy sessions with Senate Democrats as well as 2008 aspirant
Mark Warner — the outgoing governor of Virginia.
A consultant shake-up is rarely a good thing in the
short-term for a campaign as it presents an image of chaos to the D.C
political/campaign donor community. But Ford insiders insist that having made
the change now ensures he will have a unified team heading into 2006 and that
the personnel changes have had little effect on his fundraising.
As
first reported today at my alma mater — Roll Call, Ford held a fundraising
event with former President Bill Clinton on Monday night in New
York City that netted $300,000 for his Senate campaign. Ford had $1.75 million
in the bank at the end
of September, and his allies
insist the past three months have been extremely positive on the fundraising
front.
Given the statewide political dynamics of Tennessee, Ford
faces an uphill fight regardless of whom Republicans eventually nominate.
President Bush won the state in 2004 by 14 points, and the Volunteer State
hasn’t been represented by a Democrat in the Senate since 1994 when Sens.
Harlan Matthews (D) and Jim Sasser (D) held
the two seats.
Ford’s campaign did not return several requests for comment.
From The New York Post
YOUNG & RESTLESS
December 12/14, 2005
—
ONE of Sen. Hillary Clinton‘s staffers wants to
follow in his boss’ footsteps. Clinton’s deputy state director Tyson Pratcher,
30, is returning home to Tennessee to campaign for the congressional seat being
vacated by Rep. Harold Ford (above), who’s running for the Senate. Ford,
the brash 35-year-old who unsuccessfully challenged Rep. Nancy Pelosi for
House minority leader in 2002, raised $300,000 for his war chest at the Core
Club the other night. Bill Clinton, Sarah Jessica Parker and
former Morgan Stanley chairman Anson Beard Jr. were among the
well-wishers.
