How they keep progressive Dems from being elected and reelected. Cohen, TN

The race for Memphis' 9th District congressional seat, now held by first-term Democrat Steve Cohen, was always destined to be closely watched, inasmuch as it pitted Cohen against Nikki Tinker, the runner-up in the 2006 Democratic primary. There are obvious contrasts between Cohen and Tinker in gender, race (he's white, she's black), religion (he's Jewish, she's Christian), and, not least, political ideology, an area where Cohen's legislative record and several decades' worth of outspokenness are counterpointed by what is, relatively speaking, Tinker's blank slate. Moreover, both those campaign efforts are expected to be well funded, and Cohen has attracted an unusual degree of national attention during his first term -- much but not all of it for his close attention to matters affecting his predominantly African-American constituency.

....."But hold everything! As of Monday, this established pas de deux took on a third member, whose volatile presence, personal history, and family name seem likely to turn what had been a tidy ballet into a free-for-all.

Jake Ford, second son of one former District 9 congressman, Harold Ford Sr., and brother of another, Harold Ford Jr., picked up a petition at the Election Commission Monday to run as a Democrat for the 9th District seat against Cohen, Tinker, and several other less ballyhooed figures in the party's August 7th primary.

But hold on again! Having evidently rethought the matter, Ford returned to the Election Commission on Tuesday, picked up a new petition to run as an independent, and returned shortly thereafter to file it. That means that Cohen (or Tinker), having struggled through what will basically be a mano-a-mano primary, will have to do it all over again in the fall against Jake Ford.

-- Harold Ford Jr. just got married a couple of months ago, but he's wasted no time in taking advantage of one of the main political advantages of marriage - insulation from controversal political donations. Looks like Ford's bride, Emily Threlkeld Ford, has maxed out contributions to Nikki Tinker, the primary opponent of 9th district Congressman Steve Cohen.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calls him the "conscience" of the 110th Congress. He's been endorsed by his House Judiciary Committee chairman, John Conyers. Rep. Maxine Waters, the liberal California firebrand, calls him "brother."

..."Walking with him in the hallways of Congress, where he's stopped repeatedly no matter how fast he's moving to make a vote, it's clear that Rep. Steve Cohen, D-Tenn., has made a powerful impression in his first term. YouTube him and you'll find video clips of dozens of Cohen's floor and committee speeches about the Memphis Tigers basketball team, Stax records, Guantanamo and the war. When he asked Dick Cheney's chief of staff recently if the vice president was a "barnacle," the riposte lit up the blogosphere.

But beyond witty repartee, how effective has the unabashedly liberal and anti-war Cohen been for his constituents in Memphis' 9th Congressional District? Some, like former NAACP national executive director Benjamin L. Hooks, see a solid voting record consistent with a civil rights agenda. Hooks' view is upheld by the national NAACP's "report card" on 25 Cohen votes of interest to its members, where he scores a 96 percent. (Rep. Marsha Blackburn, a Republican who represents West Tennessee's 7th District, by contrast, scores 28 percent.)

At least two members of the Congressional Black Caucus are supporting an African-American primary challenger to Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen, a first-term Democrat, who is white and seeking re-election in his Memphis district, and more members of Congress may join them. Cohen's Democratic primary challenger in the majority black 9th district is Nikki Tinker, an airline executive.

The political action committee of Democratic Rep. Gregory W. Meeks of New York donated $2,000 to Tinker in February; and the campaign committee for Democratic Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones of Ohio contributed $2,000 in December.

Tinker's campaign indicated in an interview that Tinker is "solidifying support" and a list of additional members of Congress who have signed on to support Tinker's campaign is scheduled for release in the coming weeks. Staff declined to specify members until their endorsements are made public.

Cohen told CQ Politics that "the situation as "a little awkward."

If you thought race was an uncomfortable issue in the Democratic presidential primary, wait 'til you get a load of what's going on in the Democratic primary in the Memphis area's 9th District of Tennessee, where a shockingly worded flier paints Jewish Rep. Steve Cohen (D-Tenn.) as a Jesus hater.

"Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the JEWS HATE Jesus," blares the flier, which Cohen himself received in the mail -- inducing gasps -- last week.

Circulated by an African-American minister from Murfreesboro Tenn., which isn't even in Cohen's district, the literature encourages other black leaders in Memphis to "see to it that one and ONLY one black Christian faces this opponent of Christ and Christianity in the 2008 election."

...

The {Commercial Appeal} editorial also noted that last summer Cohen came under attack from black ministers who challenged the congressman's support for federal hate crimes legislation to protect gay rights. The paper wrote that the "real motive" behind the ministers' attacks was revealed later by Rev. Robert Poindexter who, according to the Commercial Appeal, said of Cohen: "He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line."

Cohen tells the Sleuth it was "shocking" to receive the flier, "particularly coming from an African-American the week after Dr. King's birthday. This was just such an ignorant and racist and prejudiced type of flier -- it's hard to fathom we're in the 21st century," Cohen says.