The WSWS writes:

Harold Ford, a congressman from Memphis, is bidding to become the first black senator to be elected by popular vote from a southern state (senators were chosen by the state legislatures until the passage of the 17th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1913). The son of a long-time congressman from Memphis, Ford is arguably running the most right-wing campaign of any candidate nominated by the Democratic Party for this year's Senate contests.

He is one of only a handful of Democrats who continues to defend his vote in 2002 to authorize the war in Iraq, when he was among those House Democrats who followed the lead of Minority Leader Richard Gephardt, an enthusiastic proponent of the Iraq war. When Gephardt subsequently retired to pursue an unsuccessful presidential bid, Ford ran for the post of House minority leader, calling the eventual victor, Nancy Pelosi, too liberal, particularly because she had voted against the war.

Since then Ford has been adamant about his pro-war views. He has endorsed Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, the avidly pro-war Democrat who is running for reelection as an independent, over Ned Lamont, who won the state's Democratic primary in August by appealing to anti-war sentiment. Ford has called for an even more aggressive US intervention in Iraq, urging the partitioning of the country into three autonomous zones, Sunni, Shia and Kurd, under a relatively powerless central government that would be wholly dependent on US support.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board noted approvingly (October 26), "Mr. Ford's votes for the war in Congress, and his willingness to talk about the need for it, has certainly resonated better than have the `credentials' of the many war vets Democrats recruited to run elsewhere."

Ford has adopted a right-wing posture on social and cultural issues as well, including opposing abortion, calling for a greater role for religion in public life, and supporting constitutional amendments to ban flag-burning and gay marriage.

One campaign commercial--highly praised by the left-liberal journal the Nation--is actually filmed in the sanctuary of a Baptist church in Memphis, with a large white cross on a red tapestry in the background. Ford uses this setting to denounce Republican claims that he is a liberal at heart, declaring, "I voted for the Patriot Act, five trillion in defense, and against amnesty for illegals."

Ford has assiduously cultivated the support of Christian fundamentalists and the right wing of the Republican Party, voting for Bush's tax cuts and telling the Rotary Club in Cleveland, Tennessee, "I get in trouble with Democrats because I like President Bush."

The Old Confederacy is no place to be looking for progress from. Not 'til they unionize that hellhole at least. Too many gun nuts. Too many Christofascists. Sorry.

And, I'm speculating the story about missing Diebold cards arose out of Memphis for a reason - Ford's family is prominent in Memphis politics and has been for a long time.  The Republicans have long been trying to tie him to them, particularly a relative whose federal political corruption-related trial is just coincidentially supposed to be starting about now.  There seems to be building a Repug post-election-night-debacle story of "we lost because the Democrats stole the election with those crummy, hackable computerized election machines".  The only reason the MSM is giving any coverage to the stealable elections is because they, and the Rethugs, know the Rethugs are going to lose.  So a dozen Diebold cards (the most hackable things going, apparently) going missing fits right in with the story they're building.  Those cards will show up, and be part of lots of post-election litigation.