TENNESSEE SENATE RACE UPDATE: Out running errands just now, I heard a radio commercial for Bob Corker, who’s one of the three running for the Republican nomination for Bill Frist’s seat. The commercial called him a “conservative Republican,” stressed his “pro-life, pro-Second Amendment, pro-traditional marriage” views and used the word “conservative” more times than I could count. Harold Ford is (now) the only Democratic candidate. I was going to blog about the commercial, but when I got home I also got an email from the Ford Campaign that provides some background. Excerpt:

From Charlie Cook in today’s National Journal:

Tennessee

Strange as it might seem, Democrats have a shot at an open Senate seat in the South. Their Tennessee nominee, Rep. Harold Ford, may be their strongest recruit of the cycle in terms of raw talent, political skills, and fundraising ability. Ford, though, will have to wait until August and the outcome of a three-way Republican primary before he will know what kind of general election contest he’ll have.

Former Rep. Van Hilleary, the GOP’s 2002 gubernatorial nominee; former Rep. Ed Bryant, a 2002 Senate candidate; and former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker are competing for the GOP nod. Hilleary and Bryant are vying for the conservative vote while attacking Corker as a tax-raising, abortion-flip-flopping, Democratic-primary-voting, disaster-of-a-mayor moderate.

Corker, on the other hand, argues that he has always opposed abortion rights and that he raised taxes and cut the size of the city’s government to erase a budget deficit and put Chattanooga on the road to financial stability. He acknowledges voting in two Democratic primaries. More important, Corker has vastly outraised each of his Republican rivals and, according to the latest FEC reports, had more than $4.2 million in the bank compared with less than $1.2 million for Hilleary and under $1.1 million for Bryant. Corker is the least well-known candidate, but his war chest can go a long way toward fixing that problem. He recently launched a six-week, $1.6 million advertising campaign.

The bottom line is that Hilleary and Bryant are likely to split the conservative vote, creating an opening for Corker to win the nomination.

While Ford is a strong candidate, he is not without obstacles. The first is that since Reconstruction the South has never elected a black candidate to the Senate. The second is that his politically connected family constantly attracts negative attention. An uncle who had to resign his state Senate seat after being indicted on extortion charges is set to stand trial in October. That certainly won’t help Ford’s chances.

Admirable of them to mention the family problems — the Fords are a sort of black Kennedy family for Tennessee. You can hear our podcast interview with Harold Ford, Jr. here.