Ford Campaign Returns to Dyersburg

Our travels across the state campaigning for change rank as our top priority in this campaign. We spent most of last week campaigning in Dyersberg with Mayor Bill Revell and County Mayor Richard Hill. It went very well. The Dyersburg State Gazette article below gives you a perspective on how it is going. In short, we are winning.

Sincerely,

Harold

From the Dyersburg State Gazette:

Harold Ford Jr. campaigns in Dyersburg

December 12, 2005

By John Leeper jleeper@stategazette.com

Rep. Harold Ford Jr., D-Memphis, brought his messages of a balanced-budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution and reduced dependence on foreign oil to Dyersburg this week, part of a West Tennessee campaign swing.

Ford, a five-term congressman from Memphis, is making a bid for the U.S. Senate seat being surrendered by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn.

A friend of Dyersburg Mayor Bill Revell, Ford scheduled all of Wednesday in the city in order to meet with local farmers, health care providers, area bankers and workers at the local Caterpillar plant.

His primary address of the day was before students at Dyersburg High School. Ford told students, "When I came to the House in 1996, I didn't believe in a balanced-budget amendment, but if I am elected to the Senate, I will push for one."

He echoed warnings of the "Blue Dog Coalition," a group of fiscally conservative House Democrats of which he is a member, and Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, that burgeoning deficits in Washington pose a serious threat to the future economic health of America and must be brought under control.

Ford laid out a three-part plan for reducing dependence on foreign oil by 75 percent over a 10-year period. It included advancing new automobile technologies, pushing renewable energy via tax incentives for industry and passing an energy bill that reflects the realities of the future. He also pitched his idea to students for a national service youth corps in which the federal government subsidizes a college education for young people in exchange for a required period of service, whether in the public sector or the military.

In addition to campaigning, Ford met with administrators at the employment-security office and the city school system to discuss local concerns related to congressional legislation.