Steve Cohen Draws Another Primary Opponent Based On Race

Ninety days after being re-elected mayor in October, 2007-- with 42% of the vote-- Memphis' controversial Willie Herenton announced he had other priorities in his life would be stepping down, looking towards regaining his old job as Memphis City School superintendent as a stepping stone to run for Memphis' congressional seat against progressive stalwart Steve Cohen. He's been resigning and postponing resigning all summer but finally made the move on July 30-- and then promptly pulled papers needed to run for mayor in the special election in October to replace him. Today's NY Times reports he has also started a racism-tinged campaign against popular two-term Rep. Steven Cohen.

It's hardly the first time Cohen has been attacked by a racist crank. Like Nikki Tinker, who eked out 19% of the vote against Cohen after a bitterly vicious, anti-Semitic campaign, Herenton, best known by many for his shady business dealings and startling corruption, says he isn't being adequately represented by a white person.

He is running a blistering campaign against Representative Steve Cohen, a fellow Democrat with a precarious hold on the majority black district.

“To know Steve Cohen is to know that he really does not think very much of African-Americans,” Mr. Herenton said in a recent radio interview on KWAM. “He’s played the black community well.”

The primary election in August 2010 pits an unlikely officeholder-- a Jew in a deeply Christian region, a middle-age white man known for fighting for blacks and women-- against a prominent challenger. Already, the campaign has proved how deeply race still infuses much of politics in the South, even after the election of a black president.

...“This seat was set aside for people who look like me,” said Mr. Herenton’s campaign manager, Sidney Chism, a black county commissioner. “It wasn’t set aside for a Jew or a Christian. It was set aside so that blacks could have representation.”

Mr. Cohen, 60, is a well-known Memphis liberal who considered joining the Congressional Black Caucus, wrote a national apology for slavery and the Jim Crow laws, and received an “A” rating from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

“I vote like a 45-year-old black woman,” he said in an interview. “I don’t know the black experience, but I know about being a minority and being discriminated against because of religion.”

But his unusual identity-- as one of only two white members of Congress from majority black districts-- makes him vulnerable politically. In the last election, his opponent ran a much-vilified advertisement that tried to link Mr. Cohen to the Ku Klux Klan. It juxtaposed Mr. Cohen with an image of a hooded Klansman and criticized him for voting not to rename a state park currently named for a Klan founder, Nathan Bedford Forrest.

Politically, Cohen has attached himself to Barack Obama, inarguably the most popular political figure in Memphis. (McCain only managed to scrap together 22% of the vote in TN-09 last year, far worse than Bush did in 2000 or 2004-- and his worst performance in Tennessee, which he won with 57%.) Cohen is inherently far more progressive and far more oriented towards overt action towards helping struggling working families than Obama's centrist corporate-friendly administration is. On June 16 Cohen wasn't among the 32 Democrats voting against the war supplemental. It may have been where his heart was but he wasn't about to do anything to piss off Rahm Emanuel at a time when a wink and a nod from Obama could determine the primary victor. Similarly, Cohen-- a fanatic supporter of universal health care reform-- wasn't one of the Progressive Caucus members vowing to defy President Obama and vote against his reform legislation if it didn't include the kind of meaningful reform Emanuel's corporate allies are dead set against. It's a very peculiar position for a fighting liberal like Cohen to be in, but he is surely aware that pleasing Emanuel (and Obama) means a lot more right now than walking in lockstep with close congressional allies like John Conyers, Donna Edwards and Maxine Waters in a battle to secure a health care bill that would be ideal for constituents of TN-09, where 89,000 uninsured people-- of the 107,000 who currently have no health insurance-- would stand to gain high-quality, affordable insurance if a bill with the public option passes. Conyers, Edwards and Waters are part of the team demanding that Obama stick with that-- in the face of mounting pressure from corporate shills to abandon it. Cohen has little choice but to cheer lead the president's public stand that thus far seems to favor the same goals progressives like Conyers, Edwards and Waters are insisting on.

Last year John Barrow-- another white politician in a district where most Democrats are black, albeit, unlike the liberal Cohen, a very conservative anti-family rep-- had his political skin saved by Obama when Obama endorsed him against a progressive African-American state senator, Regina Thomas. Barrow has gone on to rack up one of the most jaw-dropping anti-Obama voting records of any Democrat in Congress; he is currently aggressively campaigning against meaningful health care reform. It should be informative to watch and see how Obama handles the primary challenge that Barrow faces-- Thomas, a stalwart fighter for health care reform and for the Obama agenda, is likely to run against him again-- in comparison to how he handles the primary battle between Cohen and Herenton.

Don't Hate On EMILY's List-- More On Harold Ford's Nikki Tinker

Everyone is entitled to make a mistake and it was damn Christian of EMILY's list to publicly puke on their worst endorsement of the year-- anti-Semitic Blue Dog Nikki Tinker-- just hours before the polls opened in Memphis this morning. I noticed that the papers in Memphis covered it and I sure hope women who admire and respect EMILY's List get the message before they vote for a reactionary bigot like Tinker over Steve Cohen, someone who's world view-- if not his plumbing-- is far more in sync with EMILY's List than Tinkers'.

Even Mr. Hope made a statement about the election this morning in Tennessee's 9th CD. Look how courageous Barack Obama is. He offers me more reasons to not bother to vote every single day:

"These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee. It's time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country."

Just one missing sentence. He could have used the one he employed to make sure the single most Republican Democrat in Congress, John Barrow, was re-elected over a progressive African-American state Senator in Georgia a few weeks ago.

That said, everyone at Blue America World Headquarters was thrilled today when EMILY's List announced their newest endorsements. Most of them are Blue America faves: Sam Bennett (D-PA), Judy Feder (D-VA), Annette Taddeo (D-FL), and Vic Wulsin (D-OH). "These Democratic women," said EMILY's List president Ellen Malcolm, "are running some of the most exciting, competitive challenger races in the country and gaining critical ground in historically Republican districts.  Ranging from doctors, businesswomen, and public servants, these women are leading the way on issues affecting American families every day. EMILY's list members are proud to support these Democratic women and help elect them to the United States House in November."


Let's hope the politics of reactionary divisiveness is defeated in Memphis today and we can all celebrate EMILY's List emergence on the Side of Light. I love their write-up on Annette:

A small business owner and a community leader, Annette Taddeo is running for Congress because she believes South Florida needs a new beginning. As founder and CEO of LanguageSpeak, Taddeo has a 15 year track record as a successful businesswoman and was named Businesswoman of the Year by the South Florida Business Journal and one of the top 50 Latina entrepreneurs in the country by Hispanic Magazine. Taddeo is also a strong advocate for women as the chair of the Women's Enterprise National Council's Leadership Forum and a National Founding Partner and member of the executive board of WIPP-- Women Impacting Public Policy.

Taddeo's priorities reflect the values of the 18th district. She has already raised more than every recent Democratic challenger in this seat combined and the district is seeing historic increases in Democratic voter registration. Annette Taddeo's leadership, experience, and dedication to her community will make her a valuable voice for the working families she will represent in Congress.

 


UPDATE: TINKER GOT THE CRUSHING SHE EARNED

When the absentee ballots were counted about 90 minutes after the polls closed, Cohen had 81% of the vote. It never went below 79% and his winning total was 79.34%. Once the most vile snake in Memphis, Harold Ford, saw the handwriting on the wall (or in the polls) he quickly threw his protegee under the bus. Tinker finished with 18.64% and a very sour taste in the mouths of everyone who supported her. Rahm Emanuel, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer owe Steve Cohen a public apology.

It was interesting that before Tinker let loose with her barrage of vicious, racist, Republican-like negative ads Cohen was only leading with 65%. Negative ads work with Republican voters, not so much with Democratic voters. "It says Memphis has come a long, long way and that people who were counting on racial voting to prevail are thinking of a Memphis that doesn't exist anymore," Cohen said. "The people of Memphis are more sophisticated voters that deal with issues and someone's record and not simply race."

In November Cohen will once again face the lowliest of all the Ford family, Harold much-hated brother Jake. In 2006 Jake managed to garner 18% of the vote. He'll do worse this year.

Today Is Primary Day In Memphis-- Please Vote

Last night Keith Olbermann named Nikki Tinker "The Worst Person In The World." I think she's just a garden variety Republican hack, not any better or worse than the rest of them. It's just that she's running as a Democrat. Yesterday we talked about why her Harold Ford-backed anti-Semitic, racist, homophobic campaign against progressive Congressman Steve Cohen is such a disgrace and why EMILY's List essentially de-endorsed her within hours of the opening of the polls. Nancy Pelosi, Rahm Emanuel, Steny Hoyer and Chris Van Hollen should be ashamed to have not come to the aid of Rep. Cohen-- they make me sick-- against this reactionary bigot whose closing issue of the campaign is a pure Rovian appeal that the Godless Jew, Cohen, is opposed to letting little children pray to God in school. If she wins, which is unlikely, I hope the Democratic leadership chokes on her. Here's what Olbermann had to say:

Yesterday's Primaries-- And A Preview For Tomorrow's Primary In Memphis

Judy Baker, progressive victor in Missouri

Kansas, Missouri and Michigan all had primaries yesterday. Mostly incumbents and Establishment favorites won their races. The stupidest candidate who ran for Congress in any district in any state for either party, Brock Olivo in the Missouri district (MO-09) being abandoned by Kenny Hulsdorf, got wiped out. He came in 4th. If you want to understand why, watch the video at that link back there. What I can't understand is why 4,637 Republicans (10%) voted for him. Blaine Luetkemeyer won the GOP nod with 39%, beating Bob Onder in a bloody, vicious contest between two extremists, and progressive state Senator Judy Baker beat former Missouri House Speaker Steve Gaw (42%-33%) to take the Democratic nomination. It's a very Republican, very white district (PVI is R+7) and includes "Little Dixie." Kerry scored 41% of the vote in 2004.

In the Missouri governor's race, Democratic homophobe Jay Nixon won his primary handily, as was expected, and he will face Kenny Hulsdorf who barely managed (49-45%) to edge by Sarah Steelman for the GOP nod. Nixon is favored to win in November but after his most recent outburt of homophobic hysteria some of his financial support dried up.

There were two congressional races in Michigan people were watching and one in Kansas. The KS-02 race looked like it would be a re-match between radical right lunatic (and ex-Congressman) Jim Ryun and incumbent moderate Democrat, Nancy Boyda. But it appears that Ryun went down to a narrow defeat-- 51-49%-- to Lynn Jenkins. It's a pretty red district but Boyda has done a good job, is known as very independent-minded, and hasn't given the voters any reason to vote her out of office. A side show in Kansas was ex-Attorney General Phill Kline's running for re-election as District Attorney in Johnson County. He's the titular head of the Nazi-faction of the Kansas GOP and he had his head handed to him by a mainstream conservative, Steve Howe.

In Michigan's 7th CD, state Senator and Blue America-endorsee Mark Schauer beat a perennial vanity candidate-- who was the party nominee in 2006-- 66-34%. Schauer will face far right extremist Tim Walberg, a freshman, in November. The more complicated race was in MI-13, where incumbent Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, mother of Detroit's unpopular, hapless and indicted mayor, drew two opponents, Mary Waters and Martha Scott. Aside from being the mother of the reviled mayor, Kilpatrick was a die-hard Hillary supporter, something that went over badly among African-American voters in MI-13, who overwhelmingly and enthusiastically supported Obama. It was neck and neck all night-- with Waters ahead most of the night-- until Kilpatrick's home turf came in late and put her ahead. She raised around $800,000 and her closest opponent, Waters, raised around $10,000.

The other hot race today was the Democratic senatorial primary run-off in Georgia. Moderate ex-state Rep. Jim Martin beat reactionary loon Vernon Jones, 59-41%. He'll be facing extremist Saxby Chambliss, one of Bush's most dependable Senate rubber stamps in November.

Rep. Steve Cohen & Obama

Tennessee holds its primary tomorrow and all eyes are on Memphis, where progressive freshman Steve Cohen, who is white and Jewish, is being challenged by a vicious anti-Semitic, racist pawn of ex-Congressman Harold Ford. It's been a very ugly race-- and the ugliness is all on one side, Nikki Tinker's. Steve Cohen was first elected in 2006 with the help of Blue America and we have enthusiastically endorsed him again. If you know anyone in Memphis, please call them and talk to them about this race. Cohen has been a real leader for working families and he is the only progressive congressman from Tennessee. Tinker is a complete corporate shill and far more conservative across a wide array of issues. Rahm Emanuel, a longtime ally of Ford's, has encouraged institutional support for Tinker and has prevented his DCCC pawn, Chris Van Hollen, from coming to the aid of Cohen, the way the DCCC and Nancy Pelosi backed other challenged incumbents like Kilpatrick yesterday and Al Wynn a few months ago. One of the most corrupt members of the Democratic Party, Gregory Meeks (NY) has been supporting Tinker, as has Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio). More progressive and respectable members of the Congressional Black Caucus like John Conyers and Jesse Jackson, Jr. have been campaigning for Cohen.


EMILY's List Embarrassed By Nikki Tinker's Racist Campaign

We were pretty disappointed when EMILY's List came out for Nikki Tinker in her anti-semitic, homophobic, racist jihad to turn a solidly Blue district reddish. I think they wish they had never gotten involved with this campaign of bigotry. The following statement was issued by Ellen Malcolm, president of EMILY's List, in response to recent ads run by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign: 
 
"We were shocked to see the recent ads run by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign.  We believe the ads are offensive and divisive.  EMILY's List does not condone or support these types of attacks."

Next time DLC Chair Harold Ford makes a recommendation, take it with a grain of salt.

RACIAL POLITICS IN MEMPHIS GETTING UGLY AS THE CORRUPT, REACTIONARY FORD MACHINE FIGHTS FOR A COME-BACK

Memphis-based Congressman Steve Cohen is a freshman with an extraordinarily progressive voting record, one that reflects the nature of his constituency. His problem is that his skin color (white) and religion (Jewish) don't reflect the nature of his constituency. And that is something being brought up-- sometimes covertly, something overtly, by his opponents and their supporters. His opponents are all Democrats challenging him in the primary. Republicans don't bother running in TN-09, which has a PVI of D+18. In 2006 a Republican, mark White did run-- and wound up with 18% of the vote, the exact same percentage that the one before him got. Almost 60% of the district's residents are African-Americans. Bush only got 30% of the vote against Kerry. He would do far worse today. An independent, Jake Ford (younger brother of reactionary ex-Congressman Harold Ford (now chairman of the DNC and a shill for corporate interests on Fox or MSNBC; he goes back and forth) got 22%. This year Ford is running again-- the family thinks they own the seat. So are Nikki Tinker, James Gregory, Isaac Richmond, Joe Towns Jr. and Latroy Williams.

Last February we helped expose a vicious hate campaign by Tinker supporters against Cohen based on his faith and race-- and on his support for equality for all Americans. (His opponents want equality for all Americans except the ones they don't like, in this case, gays.) Yesterday's Memphis Commercial Appeal published the kind of contemptible racist broadside against a political candidate that you'd think would have been buried when John McCain was still a child. Not unexpectedly it came from a couple of Fords. "[T]he Ford brothers chose to spew racially and religiously divisive rhetoric the day before a memorial to a man who believed in judging people by character as opposed to skin color."

Jake Ford suggested that incumbent U.S. Rep. Steve Cohen is unable to represent the district because Cohen is white and the majority of the district's residents are black.

Jake Ford also accused Cohen, who is Jewish, of supporting reparations for Holocaust survivors but not for African-American descendants of slaves.

"He's just not for the money for blacks," Jake Ford said. "He is for Jews, but not for blacks."

(On that point, among others, Jake Ford seems to have gotten his facts wrong. Cohen is a co-sponsor of a bill to study reparations for slaves' descendants.)

This blatant appeal to racism (and anti-Semitism) would cause an uproar if a white candidate said these kinds of things about an African-American candidate. The Ford Brothers' attacks on Steve Cohen should be greeted with no less outrage.

Interestingly another member of the corrupt Ford family, former state Rep John Ford, who was serving a five and a half year prison sentence in El Paso for accepting bribes, asked Cohen to help him convince the Justice Department to get him moved to a prison closer to his family in Memphis. Cohen gave him the same constituent service he would give to anyone in Memphis and Ford is now in prison nearby.

My own Congresswoman is an African-American. I'm an enthusiastic supporter of hers because she and I see eye to eye on almost every issue. Our district is a little less than 30% African-American, Barack Obama is the Senator from Illinois, whose African-American population is about 15% African-American. Another freshman elected last year with Steve Cohen, an African-American Muslim, Keith Ellison (D-MN) won his race with 56% of the vote. His district is 12% African-American. Emanuel Cleaver is the vice chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus. In 2006 he was re-elected in his Missouri district with 64% of the vote, a district which is two-thirds white and less than a quarter African-American. An aside: Cleaver has endorsed-- strenuously-- Hilary Clinton; Steve Cohen is supporting Barack Obama. I don't know what the hell is wrong with these Fords; but they are playing a relate screwed up game on every level. This is a family that should be retired from politics once and for all-- and decisively.

As I mentioned, Steve Cohen has been endorsed by Blue America. Please take a look at the archive of his live blog session at FDL from February, 2007 and please consider joining the 375 people who have donated to his campaign through the Blue America ActBlue page.