Harold Ford, Bob Corker Debate rerunning on CSPAN Now

[JI7]

set up by League of women voters of tennessee.

[JI7]

1. Ford critical of what is going on in the country

war, budget, energy and many other things.

Corker talking about how much he loves his family and Tennessee . talking about his personal experiences mostly. his accomplishments as Mayor. Corker's voice is annoying.

[JI7]

2. Corker saying world changed since 9/11

talking about needing vigilant people in washington. talking about people wanting to destroy our lives . we need to do everything, give men and women in uniform everything they need. support patriot act. pretty much playing up fear card.

[JI7]

3. Ford critical of Iraq, critical of "staying the course" policy

says if we pull out of Iraq, Iranians win. Ford's plan is supported by many Senators including Republicans like Warner and mentions a bunch of other Republicans. only mentions Biden on the Dem side.

talking about policies for Iraq and oil.

mentions politics of destruction and uses own race as example.

Corker says we never had enough men on the ground in the first place and we are paying the price. spouts some bs about how we can do anything if we come together as a country.

[JI7]

4. 21 year old asks about energy alternatives

Ford responds with something about Dayton, Bosnia etc. talks about coal and other things.

Corker talking about how much he loves his daughters. says he will make sure we aren't dependent on middle east oil. supports biofuels. wants research in enzymes. supports clean coal. claims he saw we had energy problems years ago. talks of hydrogen fuel cells and other things he did as mayor. talking about "bold ideas" .

[JI7]

5. Ford talking about Republicans being in charge and relationship to oil

industry. brings up war and oil.

[Imagevision]

6. Anyone seen it in it's entirety? if so who won??

[JI7]

9. i'm watching it right now and can't be sure who has won so far

overall Ford sounds better. but Corker isn't doing bad.

[JI7]

12. Republican led Senate and Congress

Ford makes clear he is talking about DC Republicans, not Tennessee Repubilcans. very good move on his part as he needs Republican votes to win.

blames Republican led Senate and Congress and President for not doing their job in gaurding borders. says employers should be held responsible for illegal hiring.

Corker says he went to the mexico arizona border and saw a hole in the fence that anyone can walk through. says there was water on our side of the fence which helps illegals. talking about different nationalities coming into our country.

[JI7]

7. Corker wants tort reform

Ford brings up having been in the minority party for 10 years and the party of his opponent being in charge and not doing anything.

Ford says he has supported tort reform.

[SharonAnn]

10. Jeez, I can't stand listening to Corker's speech style. It sounds so

stereotypical mountain hillbilly. I know that appeals to some people (sounds like he's from here), but it really turns me off.

But then, I can't stand *'s speech style either.

[saltpoint]

11. Bob Corker is a strong contender for Slimeball of the Year.

And this in a very strong field of contenders.

Rush Limbaugh.

Scooter Libby.

Karl Rove.

Chris Chocola.

Ann Coulter.

[JI7]

15. wow, Ford brings up Corker's hiring of illegals

says why didn't Corker hire the illegal he hired. Corker not allowed to respond as it's time to move on to different question. Ford scored on here.

question about Social security now.

[JI7]

16. Corker worried about Social Security and Medicare when his kids grow up

blames Harold Ford for it. claims to oppose personal accounts but then says once social security can be fixed he would support it. WTF ? if it's fixed why would you change it?

Ford says to allow Medicare to negotiate with drug companies. Ford says Social Security should first go to those who need it first. mentions firefighters and others.

Ford again reminds Corker Republicans have been in power in Congress. says Ford has worked with Rick Santorum on legislation to give every newborn a personal account for school, home, or retirement.

[JI7]

17. Corker using time to respond to Ford on Social Security to bring up

a previous issue of illegal immigration. moderator calls him out on it.

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18. Ford supports increase in minimum wage

says Republicans prevented it from passing. Ford says to balance budget and wants an amendment to constitution, says end pork barrell spending, end no bid contracts.

talks of educating people to compete with the world.

Corker was in China and says it is amazing what is going on there. Corker talking about ho much we need things but doesn't discuss his own policies.

Corker is getting really annoying, he has no policies.

[johnaries]

20. BTW, the moderator is Chris Clark. He's been an icon of

Nashville TV news since the 70's. He's like the Walter Cronkite of Nashville. Really nice guy in person, too. He used to stop at the C-Store I worked at when I was younger.

[JI7]

19. Corker says we need to work with countries all over the world on fighting

terrorism. talks about being in Israel and tension between Israeli and Palestinian and people being taught to hate Israel. talks of making sure peole are not living in oppressive regimes. says people resort to terrorism because they have nothing else.

Harold Ford talking about cold war ending when he graduated 14 years ago. and now many nations have nuclear weapons. talks of Howard Bakker, Madeline ALbright, Sam Nunn to help deal wiht North Korea. says we are worse off than 14 and 5 years ago.

Corker says the fact 6 nations are working on dealing with North korea is a good thing.

[JI7]

21. question about Abu Ghraib and human rights

Ford says we have to be a leader human rights.

Ford says the low moment was when our country, the Pres specicially did nothing about Abu Ghraib.

says Colin Powell urged Bush to do what Clinton did on North Korea.

Corker talking about things being health again. i'm getting disgusted with that word from him. Corker spewing things but not discussing policy.

[JI7]

22. Ford says Rumsfeld should be removed

question on deficit now.

Corker talking about what he did as mayor. talks about having to make cuts and how there are people who wont support him because of the cuts he had to made. says something about Tennessee values.

Ford talks about balancing the budget. says he never voted for a budget that wasn't balanced. talks of blue dog coalition. supports pay as you go. says he tried to get Republicans in washington to bring it for a vote but they refused.

Ford asks Corker what he did to prevent tax raises on hard working people as finance commissioner.

[ContraCommando]

27. I only caught the end,

but I thought he did well.

"Corker was in China and says it is amazing what is going on there."

Typical Wall Street Republican; they care more about making money in dictatorships than they do about their own country or state. I hope the voters of Tenn. wise up to this guy and elect Ford.

[johnaries]

23. Both got a lot of applause.

Ford had a couple of good "gotcha" moments. I think Ford won, but I'm sure Repukes think Corker won. We'll just have to wait and see what the undecideds think.

But Ford really nailed down the "if you want a change" point. He also emphasized that he was worked with Repubs as well as Dems to show he's bipartisan, which I think will resonate with a lot of undecideds. Corker just gave Repuke talking points, which I think most Tennesseans are pretty sick of hearing.

edit: Oops! sorry. I saw the first broadcast. I forgot it wasn't over yet...

[JI7]

25. i just wonder about the intelligence of some people

it's clear Ford has been in the minority party. not just Corker but the guy running against Hillary blamed her for things they didn't do while in Congress. if people are informed just the fact they would do that would come off as stupid. what do you expect them to ddo with Republicans in control.

[JI7]

24. chance to respond to campaign ads and other attacks

Ford says it's in the past but was surprised to see the smut and slime on tv and children watching tv.

talks about a chance for change with someone who works with both sides of the aisle. says Corker raised taxes as Mayor. asks if he has ever cut taxes before.

Corker takes credit for low property taxes. says Ford voted to raise taxes 78 taxes. says if Ford is in office in the future Tennessee taxes will go up. says he has actually had to balance budgets .

Corker proud of his campaign and says he is only one to ask for indpenedent expenditure ads to come out. says Kennedy and Kerry responsible for ads against him and wants Ford to call them to come down.

Ford says if there is an ad like the one against him last week he would have asked it to come down and it would have right away instead of a week later.

[JI7]

26. Ford gave a pretty good closing statement

Ford sounds strong.

Corker sounds horrible. he sounds to be dragging it on with repeating the same talking points.

[johnaries]

29. Good synopsis! I want to add for non-Tennesseans that

Corker mentioned several times that he was Finance Commissioner for former Repuke Gov Sundquist. That was a mistake. Sundquist ran our state finances into the ground, and was investigated for corruption. Tennesseans still have a bad taste in our mouths over Sundquist. Even Repukes.

[JI7]

8. interesting

i hope he loses some voters because of that.

can you tell me if Bill Frist is actively supporting Bob Corker in this race ? i haven't heard much from him in the news i read on the race. although i am mostly focusing on polls and recently the controversy over the attack ad against Ford. did First comment on that ?

[johnaries]

13. Bill who? Oh, yeah. Haven't heard anything out of Frist on anything

We've forgotten him like he's forgotten us.

[SharonAnn]

14. Yes, state was basically bankrupt, raised sales taxes and fees

cut state services, TN was in a mess.

Phil Bredesen (D) was elected governor in 2002 and basically brought financial health to the state budget and services. Wasn't interested in funneling state taxpayer money to his cronies, he was interested in governing the state well.

Hmmm, funneling taxpayer money to cronies, that rings a bell. Let me see, GOP? *? Cheny? Yes, all of the above.

Guess it'sin their blood. They can't help it, they were born with stealing and budget overruns in their blood.

[LSK]

28. I cant tell who won, but I caught a couple of Corkers standard GOP themes

Which are BS IMO. Such as smaller govt and less taxes that the GOP says its about but does nothing to prove it.