The American Spectator

Washington Prowler

Look for Harold Ford, Jr. to announce in the coming weeks after his defeat in the Tennessee Senate race that he's joining an investment bank in New York.

Rumor on Wall Street is that in spite of his Senate candidacy of more than a year, Ford has found the time to also hunt of a high-paying job on Wall Street.

Early in the campaign, Ford was getting low marks for his attention to the campaign, leading some Democrats in the state party to complain about his lack of interest in mounting a formidable campaign. Ford had been an early favorite to win the nomination, and was considered a serious piece in the national party's attempt to retake the Senate.

Now, the national party is pulling its money from the Tennessee race and pouring it into Rhode Island, where they have seen their race against pseudo-GOPer Lincoln Chafee cratering in the polls over the past 96 hours.

MEANWHILE IN MONTANA, every leftwing outfit from the DNC to the party's Senate campaign committee to MoveOn is begging for more funds from supporters, claiming they need to prop up their Senate candidate, Jon Tester.

Problem is, there is really nothing to spend those funds on in the Montana race, one that, internally, the DNC is now admitting it probably can't win.

So where is the money going? "We'll use it for something, but there isn't much we can use it for here or really anywhere else at this point," says a House Democrat staffer deployed to Montana for the election. "All the media time has been bought up. There's no point polling. The calls will be made, but they don't cost much with volunteers."

Instead, MoveOn intends to pocket the cash and use it elsewhere or to meet general budget needs after the election. The Senatorial committee intends to use the funds to defray costs elsewhere, with the DNC having similar designs on the dough.

Some money might be used for a push poll -- designed to accomplish nothing more than to spread lies about Tester's opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Conrad Burns.

Burns has pulled off a remarkable late run over the past ten days, and according to most polling made public has pulled within a point or even with Tester.

topics:
NATO