Former Congressman Harold Ford Jr. (D-Tenn.) is reportedly exploring a primary challenge to Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), the most absurd political adventure of the year for reasons the Washington Post‘s Chris Cillizza ably explains. Ford has real political talents but he was also the only competitive Democrat to lose a Senate race during the Republican thumpin’ of 2006. The positions he had to take in that unsuccessful race will all be used against him in New York. That background and his current job as head of the Democratic Leadership Council makes him a poor choice to challenge a sitting senator whose main intraparty critics believe her past statements and House voting record are too conservative.