Campaigning

Uh, you do realize that Ford and his party have put more money into his campaign than that or Corker don't you? Corker did just put up like 2 million of his own to try and even it up some, but as of this weekend Ford had put 4.7 million into his campaign, and Corker brought his up to 4 million with 2 million of it being his own apparently.

Either way, it pretty much sucks for TN to have to go from Frist to either one of those two bozos.

I seen where Corker today had McCain and former Gov. Lamar Alexander at a rally.
Corker won't lose this for his contacts. If anything he will lose it because of his negative attacks on Ford, Jr.
Kinda like how Kilgore lost in VA.

It's odd you see only two candidates and neither one who you want to actually vote for. And anyone else you don't know enough about, because they can't afford the air time, radio or tv.

Sad but true. Money talks in our elections. And if you don't have it. You don't win. Simply becaue you can't get yourself out there. Not your agenda but just yourself.

steer- i think that is somewhere around chicago- not chicago itself, but a kid won a write in campaign to be mayor in illinois.

[ QUOTE ]
at one time Rye Cove had the youngest mayor in America. Even was on David Letterman I think.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah, he was on Letterman. He was a high school senior at the time he was elected I do believe.

Stripes, if WCYB reported it right the other day, Corker has put more in than Ford (not a lot, but more). The last bit that Corker put in kicked in some exception that allowed Ford to receive more contributions (some millionaire clause or such)

In the Kingsport paper the other day, it reported it the other way. Of course that was 3-4 days ago, and it probably all has changed now. [img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Corker moves $1.3M of own funds into race
By REBECCA FERRAR AND TOM HUMPHREY, [email protected]; [email protected]
November 2, 2006


NASHVILLE - Republican Bob Corker put another $1.35 million in personal funds into his U.S. Senate campaign Tuesday, contending the extra money is needed to counter spending by out-of-state Democrats.
The move brought to $2 million Corker's self-funding in the general election campaign. He also gave his campaign $2.1 million in the GOP primary for a $4.1 million total.





The latest contribution triggered the so-called "millionaires' amendment" in federal campaign finance law that gives Democrat Harold Ford Jr. the legal right to take far more money from donors than normally allowed.

Under the law's formula, that means an individual can now give Ford $12,600 instead of the normal $2,100 maximum. He can thus return to donors who had previously "maxed out" - hitting the $2,100 ceiling - and get an extra $10,500 from each.

With just six days remaining before the election when the trigger was pulled, however, it is unclear how well Ford can exploit the fund-raising opportunity and effectively spend the incoming cash.

Early voting ends today, and Tuesday is Election Day.

"We have activated our entire donor base and believe that, in the next 48 hours, we will be successful in raising a lot more money as a result of Mr. Corker trying to buy this election," said Michael Powell, senior adviser to the Ford campaign. "Bob Corker's biggest contributor is himself."

Powell said he believes the Ford campaign can collect enough to more than offset the $2 million in Corker self-financing.

Total spending in this year's Senate campaign has now passed $40 million - by far the largest amount ever spent in a Tennessee political race.

Corker, who became a multimillionaire in the construction and real estate development business, donated $650,000 in personal funds last week - just $15,000 shy of triggering the millionaire's amendment at its lowest level.

Campaigning in Knoxville, Corker said Wednesday that he put the money into his campaign account to "achieve parity" with "liberal money" flowing into the state and being spent by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

The Corker campaign singled out Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., for special criticism, citing $265,000 in Kerry donations to DSCC and $100,000 from a Kerry PAC to the Ford campaign. Republicans nationwide have been attacking Kerry for remarks they deem insulting to soldiers serving in Iraq.

The Corker campaign also listed $2 million in donations by Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., to DSCC and $1.2 million from Sen. Ted Kennedy, D-Mass.

Federal Election Commission records indicate DSCC has spent about $5.2 million to help Ford in the current campaign - about $3.2 million of that going to ads that attack Corker.

On the flip side, the Republican National Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee combined have spent about $4.4 million to help Corker - almost all going to ads that attack Ford.

"I'm not about to let Ted Kennedy and John Kerry hijack this state," said Corker, who accused Ford of conducting a "class warfare" campaign, as Kerry did in the 2002 presidential campaign.

"John Kerry and Harold Ford are two peas in a pod," he said. "John Kerry has put a half-million dollars into Tennessee. If you like John Kerry, you're going to like Harold Ford."

Besides the groups affiliated with the Republican and Democratic parties, several other organizations have made "independent expenditures" to help either Ford or Corker. Collectively, a review of FEC figures on independent expenditures indicates such spending has reached a total of about $10.5 million.

The Corker and Ford campaigns have not filed detailed reports on spending since Oct. 18. At that time, Corker had spent about $14.2 million, Ford about $10.6 million.

Add almost $6 million spent by candidates who lost in the primary, and total spending in this year's Senate race has passed $40 million.

An update from Knox News

In all, the spending in the U.S. Senate campaign is expected to top $45 million with Corker coming out on top in spending.

Just another bit

When the commercials come on for Republican Bob Corker or Democrat Harold Ford Jr., Nashville voter Sarah Taylor Holly switches the channel or mutes the volume.

She can't even guess the hundreds of times a U.S. Senate candidate commercial has flashed on her television screen, but she thinks it's unusually high "? and more often than not, it's a Corker ad.




She's on to something.

A new report by Nielsen Media Research says that Corker has aired more ads this election season than any other candidate in 11 key U.S. Senate races.

"It's the same thing over and over again," said Holly, a retired writer and editor. "I could quote them from memory."

The Nielsen Media report says Corker aired 12,007 commercials on local television channels statewide from Aug. 1 to Oct. 15, compared with Ford's 7,239 commercials. Of the 23 candidates in the 11 races that Nielsen ranked, Ford's volume of ad buys came in sixth.

[img]/LDPforum/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] Finish the mission. At least it is about to end. All of it , one way or another.