Going after a candidate’s dating habits

October 18, 2006

Way back in March, Republicans thought it was so hilarious that Rep. Harold Ford, a Dem Senate candidate in Tennessee, enjoyed nice hotels and amenities, that they created a borderline-racist website called “Fancy Ford.”

The GOP has updated the attack with what may be the lamest criticism of the entire election season.

Don’t tell us that Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr.’s past relationship with a local college coed is the most Republicans can muster in diverting attention from the Mark Foley congressional page scandal.

“More Details of Ford’s Fancy Fling” — or so blares the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s headline about the personal life of the Tennessee Democrat, who is in a tight race for his state’s open Senate seat.

The so-called “fling” was several years ago, when the unmarried Mr. Ford was celebrating his 31st birthday at Georgetown’s Paolo’s restaurant and laid eyes on Julia Baugher, then a sophomore at Georgetown University (after graduation, she penned a column in New York about dating. In fact, she wrote about the couple’s otherwise ordinary relationship for Cosmopolitan.)

As the Memphis Flyer quotes Miss Baugher, “Other than a fabulous weekend ski vacation and a few fancy dinners, all Harold gave me was the certainty that dating a [politician] is overrated.”

Let me get this straight — the National Republican Senatorial Committee is not only interested in Ford’s personal life, the NRSC also finds it fascinating that a 31-year-old bachelor went out with a college student. That’s it. No weird sexual scandals, no untoward lobbying contracts for the girlfriend, no illicit pictures. Republicans genuinely believe Ford having dated someone should be a campaign issue.

I know the Republicans are getting desperate, but are they really this pathetic?

…but are they really this pathetic?

Yes.

  • Pathetic? Yes.

    My question: Is there an “inter-racial dating” angle to the story?

    If there is, it’s still pathetic.

    Short of developing some sort of a miracle drug or vaccine, inter-racial dating–or for that matter, homosexuality–is going to happen. And Yes, the Republican party is the party of homophobes and racists.

  • My question: Is there an “inter-racial dating” angle to the story?

    I think Slip Kid has it. Republicans have decided to inject a little racism into the Tennessee Senate campaign. The “scandal” is that Ford likes younger white women.

    BFD.

  • they are acting more like a scorned lover, than a political opponent. Do we know if maybe Liddy Dole ever made a pass at him?

  • Ford really does seem to bother them. I think it’s because he’s doing such a good job reaching out to the rural East Tenn. communities where his opponent is supposed to dominate.

  • Why is dating an attractive woman supposed to be a vote LOSER for an unmarried candidate? Fair-minded citizens, especially in the the key males 18-29 demo, will likely think all the better of Ford because of it.

  • Why is dating an attractive woman supposed to be a vote LOSER for an unmarried candidate?

    Because it allows Republican 527s to send out mailers to everyone in the state with photos of Ford and the younger white woman. As stupid as it sounds, those pictures would cost him 10 points in Alabama. My fellow Alabamaians really are still that racist, and I’m guessing Tennesseans are too.

    Baugher also wrote a sex column for the Georgetown paper, which just increases the icky factor for conservatives.

  • Overheard at the Refuglican Party Election Headquarters – Tennessee Division:

    Refug 1. [Scrape, scrape, scrape] There’s got to be something in this barrel we can use! Oh, look, he dated a woman once!

    Refug 2. Did he hurt her, give her a job, [drools] any dirty pictures involved?

    Refug 1. Um. No.

    Refug 2. Wait! He’s married isn’t he?

    Refug 1. Sorry.

    Refug 2. Are we sure it was a woman? Maybe it was a transvestite.

    Refug 1. [Sighs] Nope. Just a single woman dating a single man.

    Refug 2. Damnation! Well, we’ll run it any way. After all the proles accepted King El Presidente.

    Both: [Cackle like demons]

  • It looks to me like they’re trying to undercut his attacks upon Republicrook morality by pointing to the fact that he dated a “sex columnist”. Of course the fact that she’s white is also there, as if any of the people who would care would vote for him.

    I’d say Ford’s campaign ad that was filmed in a church is eating at them just a wee bit.

    Note to Dems: Take the morality card. PLAY IT. Stand outside a church, and talk about how Republican tax policies have cut charitable giving by BILLIONS. Stand outside a soup kitchen, and show a graph of poverty, and put Jesus’ words on the screen. “FEED THE POOR”

    Ask where the Republican morality was when they covered up Foley’s predatory practices.

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