The Senate Race: How I'm Leaning

As an independent voter who isn't terribly impressed with either of Tennessee's major candidates for U.S. Senate, I am looking forward to November 7 as the day that this campaign will come to an end. Still, I feel a responsibility to vote, and, to be honest, I'll probably vote for Harold Ford, Jr. Here are a couple reasons why:

• Harry has better commercials.


• Ford has a better grasp on what's at stake. While he oversimplifies the issue of national security and overestimates the benefits of ethanol, he seems to understand what issues are most important: education, healthcare, and energy, for instance. Corker's treatment of the "issues" is very limited in scope.


• I'm a sucker, but I'm buying Ford's line about needing a "new generation" in Washington. I'm not sure how well Harry represents this new generation, but some young blood in the Senate would be refreshing.


• I don't like that one party has control of the White House and both houses of Congress, especially since that party hasn't done anything to convince me that they deserve so much power. We need to mix things up; we need to take some power away from the Republicans.