DADvocate

Having lived my first 38 years in Tennessee, I keep up with some of the politics there. When Bill Frist (R) has decided not to run for re-election for Senate, he created a wide open race to fill his seat.

Harold Ford, Jr. (D) and Bob Corker (R) are vying for that seat. One quality I like in an elected official is to represent the best interest of those who elected him or her. An important part of being able to do this is not to be obligated to those outside the electorate. Perusing www.opensecrets.org, I found some interesting information.

Here I found: Bob Corker ($7,347,548) received about a million more than Harold Ford ($6,357,993). Of course, what do you expect from a rich Republican? Ford received $935,735 or 35% of his total funds from PACs while Corker received $86,875 or 1% of his total.

Where did this money come from? $3,383,815, or 68%, of Ford's money came from outside of Tennessee. $476,800 or 8% of Corker's money came for outside of Tennessee.

The table below shows the top metropolitan areas in money given to the candidates.

Bob Corker (R)
CHATTANOOGA, TN-GA	$907,417
NASHVILLE	$906,963
KNOXVILLE	$886,998
MEMPHIS, TN-AR-MS	$394,695
JOHNSON CITY- KINGSPORT- BRISTOL, TN-VA	$275,200

Harold E. Ford Jr (D)/td>
NEW YORK	$899,673
MEMPHIS, TN-AR-MS	$894,297
WASHINGTON, DC-MD-VA-WV	$464,157
LOS ANGELES-LONG BEACH	$438,074
NASHVILLE	$399,123

All for metropolitan areas for Corker are within Tennessee. New York gave Ford more money than any place in Tennessee. The Washington, DC and Los Angeles areas also provided lots of money for Ford.

If I was still a voter in Tennessee I would be quite concerned whether Ford would represent those who voted for him or those who gave him the money he needed to finance his campaign. In Corker's case almost all of his money came from the areas where his voters live. In Ford's case, the money did not. Will Ford represent the voters or the money?