D.D. 12/19/05

In a matter of less than one day, Harold Ford, Sr. claims to have solved the mystery of how two dead people voted in the special State Senate election that saw his sister Ophelia Ford win by 13 votes. He says the culprit is a 71-year-old Republican election judge and the motive is a plot to sabotage son Harold Ford Jr.'s bid for the U.S. Senate. Ford said he's found the initials of two Democratic election judges appear on ballot applications, but that they were forged by the white Republican election judge installed by Republicans. Ford says much of his information comes from Valerie Mayo, an election judge, who says that Vatricia A. McKinney, one of the Democratic election judges paid to work the precinct, couldn't have signed the ballot applications of the dead voters because she never showed up to work that day. Hah. Thanks, Mr. Ford for giving the TBI a good place to start their investigation. As Wendi Thomas says in her Commercial Appeal column:

Of the 34 votes cast here, 32 went to Ophelia, one to Roland and one to perennial candidate Prince Mongo Hodges. [Harold Ford] Senior would have us suspend common sense and believe that the GOP plot called for a single vote for the GOP candidate. Ri-i-i-i-ght.

Before the election, Senior promised that if Ophelia won, he wouldn't coach her. "I never helped any of my other family members."

Technically, he's kept his word, because his entry into the fray is of no help to his sister or his eldest son. His intervention serves only to cast more suspicion on the Democrats, not the Republicans.

You can also check out TeamGOP's commentary -- they offer to help pay the legal fees of the elderly Republican poll worker who Harold Ford, Sr. has accused of being the voter fraud if she decides to sue the elder Ford for slander.

While you're at TeamGOP, check out their round-up of news stories that I missed over the weekend.