Corker wins Senate

This report was written by staff writers Michael Davis, Edward Lee Pitts and Andy Sher.

A Chattanoogan will head to Washington next year after former mayor Bob Corker, a Republican, defeated his Democratic opponent, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. on Tuesday in a tight race to become the state’s next U.S. senator.

"The people of Tennessee have spoken once again, and I love what they have said," Mr. Corker said early Wednesday morning as he declared victory at The Chattanoogan hotel. Mr. Corker, 54, will replace Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., who is retiring and contemplating a 2008 presidential bid.

With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Mr. Corker had 51 percent of the vote compared to Rep. Ford’s 48 percent, according to unofficial returns. "Nothing in my life has honored me more than the fact that hundreds of thousands of Tennesseans went into the voting booth and put their trust in me," Mr. Corker said. "It will be an unbelievable privilege to carry their banner in the United States Senate."

When Mr. Corker took the stage at 1:30 a.m., cheers of "Let’s go Bob" echoed through the hotel ballroom.

Rep. Ford, 36, a five-term congressman from Memphis, was trying to make history by becoming the first black senator from the South since Reconstruction. He conceded the election early Wednesday morning.

"I want to thank the people of this great state who have given me ... a chance to listen and to learn about their needs, concerns, goals and aspirations," he told supporters gathered at the Peabody Memphis Hotel.

Rep. Ford congratulated Mr. Corker on his win. But hinting at the divisiveness of the campaign, Rep. Ford said, "I still think there’s a better way for America to conduct its affairs, and there’s a better way to conduct our campaigns."

Mr. Corker, 54, a former construction magnate and real estate developer, becomes the first person from the Chattanooga area elected to the U.S. Senate since Bill Brock. Elected in 1970, Sen. Brock lost re-election in 1976. Estes Kefauver, also of Chattanooga, was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1948 and served through 1964.

Sen. Frist, appearing at the Corker campaign party at The Chattanoogan hotel, said keeping his seat in GOP hands means Tennessee voters "saw through the rhetoric" and choose Tennessee values over a career politician.

"A lot of state voters knew this clearly was not a referendum on Iraq, not a referendum on President Bush and not a referendum on Bill Frist," Sen. Frist said. "It was a choice between two candidates who see things very differently." Sen. Frist said Mr. Corker’s role as a businessman turned "citizen legislator" is keeping in tradition with other Tennessee lawmakers who had successful careers before becoming lawmakers.

In the course of the campaign Rep. Ford portrayed the contest as driven by national issues while Mr. Corker said the campaign was a "choice" and "not a referendum."

Ford campaign chairman, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Davis, D-Tenn., said early in the campaign observers gave Rep. Ford no chance at winning, but the race turned into a dead heat. "That’s a tribute to Harold Ford who has focused on issues and driven a message of change and driven a message of hope."

Ford senior adviser Tom Lee said he found the Hamilton County tallies "very gratifying. ... We did better than we thought we could do."

Mr. Corker won his home county, Hamilton, by slightly more than 7,500 votes, garnering 53 percent of the county’s votes. Rep. Ford received 46 percent of the vote in Hamilton County.

Dr. Bruce Oppenheimer, a Vanderbilt University political science professor, said Rep. Ford ran a good campaign but did not have "enough to get over the hump."

Mr. Corker, a multimillionaire, poured more than $4 million of his own money into this race, including more than $2 million in recent weeks for the general election. He said the investment was needed to counteract contributions from national Democrats.

Rep. Ford contributed $50,000 of his own money to the race, according to a Federal Election Commission report through Oct. 18.

With control of Congress at stake and tight polls early on, reporters from California to Australia descended on Tennessee to cover the race. The contest was pegged as a key race that could determine control for the Democrats.

National attention hit a crescendo in recent weeks after the airing of a television commercial some attacked as having racial overtones. The Republican National Committee’s advertisement featured a blonde-haired white woman claiming she met Rep. Ford at a Playboy-sponsored Super Bowl party.

"Harold, call me," the woman cooed at the end of the spot. Negative TV spots dominated the airwaves, with both parties trading shots. While the GOP alleged that Rep. Ford supported gay marriage and wanted to give abortion pills to schoolchildren, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee ran spots blaming Mr. Corker for unanswered 911 emergency calls in Chattanooga.

In late September, the Corker campaign underwent a major overhaul, which Dr. Oppenheimer called a "turning point." GOP Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander’s chief of staff, Tom Ingram, replaced Ben Mitchell as campaign manager.

Other staff members from Sen. Alexander and Sen. Frist left Washington, D.C. and joined Mr. Corker’s team.

Throughout the race Mr. Corker labeled Rep. Ford as a "liberal," often comparing him to Democratic senators Ted Kennedy and John Kerry of Massachusetts. Mr. Corker also tried to connect Rep. Ford to his political family.

On the campaign trail, Mr. Corker played up his Tennessee roots, often saying that voters want someone from "Tennessee, not D.C."

After graduating from the University of Tennessee, Mr. Corker started a construction company with $8,000 in savings. Bencor Corp. eventually was involved in apartment complexes and strip malls across 18 states before Mr. Corker sold it in 1990.

During Corker’s tenure as mayor, the city completed a $120 million transformation of the waterfront.

While campaigning, Rep. Ford called for change in Washington. He derided the Republican leadership in Congress, saying the country could do better. Rep. Ford argued on the campaign trail that Mr. Corker would be a "rubber-stamp" senator for President Bush’s policies.

The two candidates kept up a furious pace the last two weeks, stumping the state from Johnson City to Memphis and back again. Mr. Corker rode a bus emblazoned with "Corker Country," while Rep. Ford traveled the state’s highways in a bus with a "New Generation of Leadership" painted on the side.

Mr. Corker won the GOP nomination in August over two conservative former congressmen, Van Hilleary and Ed Bryant.