A brief history of why we are at this point.

If you had told me ten years ago that in 2006, we would have the chance to elect a African-American to the United States Senate as a Democrat, and that I would be either ambivalent or dismissive, I would have laughed at you or punched you out.

However, here we are, and I am ready to write in someone else for the United States Senate at a time where we DESPERATELY need Democrats to control the Senate. So, why not Junior?

For those who have paid attention, since 1998, when Bill Clinton was under attack by the Goopers for his unnecessary indiscretions, I remember that Junior joined them, albeit not as intense. While I too was upset with the President, I thought it wrong to attack him, as the Goopers were doing just fine on their own. THAT was when I first suspected something was not right about the eldest son of Memphis' finest Congressman.

Then, his votes kept taking a further rightward lurch, especially on issues that affected his mostly poor-to-middle-class constituency, culminating in his vote for the giveaway to the credit-card industry, the bankruptcy bill. As his candidacy for the US Senate progressed, he seemed determined to make other Tennesseans forget he was from Memphis (or at least born here) and he stopped representing the 9th District.

In addition, moves were made behind the scenes to ensure that progressives, who were NOT enamored with his pandering to the right, would have NO chance to voice opposition to him in the Democratic primary.

While Rosalind Kurita may not exactly have been Barbara Boxer, at least she took Democratic positions on health and economic issues, and her favorable rating from the NRA would not have hurt her in a statewide race. She would have been a formidable candidate.

At least, if the DSCC had not worked behind the scenes to ensure that she could not raise money, killing her chances to run a creditable campaign. With her withdrawal, Ford, instead of reassuring his base, ran AWAY from them, sounding more like a Republican candidate than any of the three ACTUAL Goopers running for Senate.

The first rule of Politics 101 is this: SECURE YOUR BASE. He ASSUMED, that, because he was the guaranteed Democratic nominee, since we (supposedly) had nowhere to go, we would sit down, shut up, and vote for him. That was yet another mistake.

All of that could have been forgiven, maybe, if the last assault on the decency of the progressive movement in Tennessee had not been undertaken: the Jake Ford Campaign.

Jake, who at 34 did not finish either high school or college, and was a failed wrestler and had a job with his father's lobbying firm, started off sounding like he belonged in a campaign. However, once he actually faced Steve Cohen, 24 years a State Senator and 30 years in public life, his shortcomings as a candidate were exposed, and he quickly became a pitiable figure.

Then, Harold Ford Senior got involved. While no one can blame a man for supporting his sons, the fact that now Jake Ford was claiming to be an "Independent Democrat" and was attacking Steve Cohen for being too liberal provoked the progressive community into rage.

When you force an animal into a corner, it's going to fight back with everything it has. That, in essence, is what happened with the progressives and the bloggers who have emerged from that camp. It wasn't bad enough that you are trying to elect the southern version of Joe Lieberman as a Democrat, now you are attacking the best hope for Democratic progressive values, Steve Cohen, suggesting he was gay and intimating that he shouldn't be elected because he wasn't Christian???

Then, after Cohen, who has campaigned as tirelessly for Junior as he has for himself, mentioned that this was hurting Junior due to backlash, Junior attacked the Democratic nominee for his old seat, even suggesting Cohen was in league with Corker.

This strategy has backfired horribly, as the bloggers have gotten the story out all over the state and nation, and enraged the base. Harold Ford Junior is losing votes by the second, which may explain his actions on Friday with Bob Corker.

NOW he figures out that his base is not secure. With 2 1/2 weeks to go in the campaign and early voting having begun, it's too damn late to shore that up now, sir.

And so, in order to save what's left of my party and what it stands for, I am forced to not vote for the man who would have been the first elected African-American Senator from the South since Reconstruction.

No, I'm not voting for Bob Corker; frankly, NONE of the candidates on that ballot are worthy of anyone's support, and I'll write someone in.

When the post-mortem of this election is written, and Harold Ford Junior is desperate to assign responsibility for his loss, I remind you of the words of one of my political godfathers: Victory has many fathers, but when there is a loss, it is the candidate him or her self that is ultimately responsible.