And he's denying he's the baby daddy = cue DNA testing.

And he's denying he's the baby daddy = cue DNA testing.

And he's denying he's the baby daddy = cue DNA testing.

On the religious issue, I think that Tinker (who is not from Memphis) and her campaign made an assumption that blacks in Memphis are somehow anti-Jewish because they are staunch Christians. This is certainly not the case as Jews are spoken of glowingly in black churches. That was a total miscalculation on her campaign's part. She may have been somewhat successful in creating suspicion had the person she was running against been outside the Judeo-Christian tradition (i.e, a Hindu, Muslim, Buddist, etc)

As for the race issue, traditionally black Memphians voted for blacks (which mostly means Democrats) and whites voted for Republicans (which overwhelmingly means white). On the city council, straight racial line votes were the norm with black council members voting one way and whites the other. You could listen to the talk radio stations and see the massive difference. White talk radio stations on one side of an issue. Black radio stations on the other.

Eventually blacks became a majority on the city council and elected a black (and as it turns out megalomaniacal) mayor. The city was supposed to move forward now with black leadership and the whites – that were holding back progress – out of power. However, in recent years a lot of scandals were brought to light that have shown that many black elected officials did not have the best interests of the black community at heart. Some of them even looked down upon the black community. This caused people to realize that a black face was not enough. In addition playing the “race card” was no longer working. Corruption was corruption. So this changed the attitudes of people toward people like Cohen. We need good leadership regardless of race.

I still have family in Memphis and they tell me what is going on. There is still a ways to go. For example, the white talk radio hosts call Barack Obama: “Brother Hussein” and many whites still panic when blacks move into their neighborhoods. But this is progress. If they can get a good mayor the city may even start to move forward

I don't disagree with you about Harold Ford. But Harold Ford is a non-issue to me. In fact, I find him and his opinions completely irrelevant! That said, Senator Obama is relevant.

This was the first time I truly understood and agreed with the growing chorus of criticism coming from Democratic ranks that Senator Obama is running an overly cautious campaign, following the same script of the past two failed Democratic presidential campaigns. Rather than worrying that black voters in TN (or elsewhere) would buy into Nikki Tinker's clumsy attempt to exploit the black/Jewish divide, which let's be honest really doesn't resonate outside of Chicago and NYC, and turn against him if he spoke out FORCEFULLY, he should have trusted that they would reject it because they are decent, generous, and intelligent people who would find her campaign tactics as disgusting, dispicable and down right stupid as like minded white folks.

But rather than doing that, he decided to straddle the line or play 50 as we like to say. It was an opportunity to put what his critics call his “meaningless rhetoric” to action. He could have and should have strongly condemned Nikki Tinker by NAME and endorsed Cohen based not on his race or religion but his progressive record. He has served the people of his district, mostly African American, VERY well. It was a big opportunity for him to demonstrate to white and Jewish voters that contrary to what bigots like Pat Buchanan say black voters just don't vote black; they vote their interests. Yes, we are pre-disposed to vote black–as we should be–but the black candidate has to have a message and platform to deliver our needs. This was a missed opportunity all the way around.

If could have given birth to a clearer and more direct campaign message: Vote Your Interests! The wickedly brilliant talent of the RNC has been convincing poor white voters to vote against their interests. Senator Obama could have used this little TN congerssional race to say to Jewish voters in FL and older white voters in OH and MI, “follow their lead!” Instead, he took the easy way out. And while it caused him no pain to issue such a tepid condemnation of Nikki Tinker's ads at the same time it made him no gain.

I believe stronly it was a BIG missed opportunity.

Speaking of Ford, a friend who shall remain nameless told me a lot about this Ford, Jr., he loves the The Playboy Mansion and has put in time at the grotto and lets just say, what happens in the grotto, stays in the grotto. He literally chased those blonde bunnies down like a semi truck. He almost had his tongue hanging out of his mouth trying to get with as many bunnies as possible. He was a running partner of Dexter King who is an abuser behind closed doors, the rumors are out on Dex about abuse issues and non-black ladies. So I guess the playboy ad was true to life even if jr did try to distance himself from it.

What a person not from Memphis may not realize is that Memphis WAS an EXTREMELY racially polarized city. This is a sign that things are changing for the better