CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. - The candidates for U.S. Senate hit the campaign trail early Monday to get in one more long day of making their case to the voters.
Democratic Senate nominee Harold Ford Jr. started his day in Chattanooga, where Republican opponent Bob Corker was mayor until last year. He got a warm reception among the city's Public Works employees as they prepared to start their shifts early Monday.
"I've been here 25 years, and you know how many times I've seen Corker down here? Zero," said mechanic Ray Brown, 59.
Ford told workers that he would improve access to health care for working people. "The middle class is shrinking, and the thing that's killing the middle class is health care," Ford said.
Ford concluded his impromptu speech with: "Let's go beat this little guy!"
Corker started his day in Johnson City in the northeast and most Republican corner of Tennessee. GOP Sens. John McCain, Saxby Chambliss and Lamar Alexander and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist traveled with him as he set out to visit every major Tennessee city on the last full day before Election Day.
"They represent the values of this state. They represent the way this state wants to see our country go," Corker said of the men he would like to join in the Senate.
The senators led the crowd of about 300 Republican supporters at Sunny's Cafeteria in cheers as they championed Corker's background as mayor, businessman and someone who "represents Tennessee values."
Ruth Verhegge, 62, a Jonesboro dietitian, said Corker and the senators with him much more closely represent Tennesseans than Ford.
"I have a great deal of difficulty hearing someone call themselves a conservative when his behavior shows otherwise. His voting record definitely reflects that," she said.
The hotly contested race has drawn national attention with party control of the U.S. Senate at stake.
In yet another sign of the divisions in the race, two new polls differed significantly on who is ahead, if anyone.
A poll of likely voters released Monday by USA Today/Gallup found Corker with 49 percent support, Ford with 46 percent and a margin of error of 4 points _ a statistical tie. The survey of 877 voters was conducted Wednesday through Friday.
But a Mason-Dixon Polling & Research Inc. poll conducted at the same time showed Corker leading Ford 50-38, giving the Republican a lead bigger than the 4-point margin of error. That poll of 625 likely voters was conducted for the Chattanooga Times Free Press and The Commercial Appeal newspapers.
The USA Today/Gallup poll showed Corker trending upward from a survey a month ago, when he had 45 percent support. It also found nearly three out of four voters disapprove of a Republican National Committee ad attacking Ford that gain national attention for what critics decried as a racial undertone.
A day earlier Ford lashed out at Corker in the Republican's hometown, calling him "the king of slime" for his negative TV ads. "Don't let his lies, and his money stop the forces of change in America," Ford said.
Ford also suggested Corker took credit for anything good that happened in Chattanooga while he was mayor.
"I listen to your mayor sometimes ... and I want to say, 'Mr. Corker, even Jesus had disciples; you couldn't have done all this by yourself,'" Ford said.
Both campaigns drew on the star power of senators mentioned as 2008 presidential candidates.
"This is a tough race," McCain said Sunday night after arriving in the state. "I'm going to give you a little straight talk: Whether we keep the majority in the U.S. Senate could hinge on this race."
The nation's only black senator, Barack Obama, D-Ill., asked voters Sunday at two black churches and at a Nashville rally to elect Ford, a Democrat who is trying to become the first black senator from the South in more than 100 years.
"I know that all of you are going to work the next couple of days to make sure it happens, because I'm feeling lonely in Washington," Obama said at the Mt. Zion Baptist Church. "I need my dear friend to join me."
Ford delighted churchgoers with anecdotes about growing up in a traditional family in Memphis. He concluded his remarks at the rally that attracted thousands by urging strong voter turnout.
"If you fight for me for the next 48 hours against these forces that want turn us back, I will fight for you every single day in the United States Senate," he told the roaring crowd.
Corker and his family attended church in Sevierville in East Tennessee, a traditionally friendly region for Republican candidates. He continued his campaign's basic message, mentioning his business background, his deep roots in Tennessee and his ability to bring people together.
"My entire life I have worked to bring people together for positive ends," Corker said outside a barbecue restaurant in Morristown. "To me, that's what public service is about. You can stick to your principles and still move forward."
Ford, who has crafted a centrist _ and sometimes conservative _ image in Congress, acknowledged that he is sometimes questioned about why he is a Democrat. He said he responds that he is in favor of lower health care costs, better education and Social Security.
"I'm a Democrat because I believe when ... your baby gets sick at school and you go to pick him up and take him to the hospital that they, too, deserve health care, just like your bosses' kids do," he said.
Corker suggested Ford isn't as conservative as he wants voters to believe.
"I think in a race like this Tennesseans see through people trying to be something they're not."
Source: Memphis Commercial Appeal - Memphis' Source for News and Information: Politics
