Looking better:

         Now   10/14      9/21
Ford      48%     46%       48%
Corker    43      45        41
other/und. 9       9        11

Now, that's a Dem poll (Benenson Strategy Group, 10/26-28 MOE +/- 4.1%), finding also that "among the 242 respondents who had already voted, Ford was ahead 40%-32%, while 29% refused to say for whom they voted; and it also shows favorables/unfavorables at 52/40 Ford, and 45/44 Corker," from Hotline.

Chalk up another backfire for RNC adman Scott Howell.

And in Virginia, another Dem poll (Garin Hart Yang Research Group, 10/26-29, MOE +/-- 3.5%) finds:

                 All W/Lnrs
Webb             43%   47%
Allen            38    43
Other/undec      19    10

Allen in the 30's, haha. Does the NRSC have polls out showing it different? Also on Virginia today, from Rasmussen Report:

                 All W/Lnrs
Webb             48%   51%
Allen            46    46

Rasmussen says that "Allen has lost ground among Republicans and unaffiliated voters. Overall, those with a "very unfavorable" opinion of Allen increased from 31% to 36%. Those with a "very unfavorable" opinion of Webb grew from 21% to 24%." And on the ground, things are looking better for Webb too, lots more signs throughout the state, and Governor Warner is out on the campaign trail for Webb later this week, campaigning with Kaine for Webb, through election day.

There's more...

I've spent today, when I was on the web in-and-out, diving into the US Senate race in Tennessee. There's not been public polling released since the 24th, so we still don't know what the fallout is from Scott Howell's RNC Bimbo-ad creation. Given that Liddy Dole went after Ford in her closing thirty seconds, and George Will is trying to cover for RNC's Ken Mehlman by saying he "was appalled" by a controversial RNC ad; that Wal-Mart ditched Terry Nelson for having pushed through approval of the ad in the RNC; and this is what they are saying in Tennessee: You know nasty when you see it, and this is it... I'm gonna guess that Corker did not benefit from the ad or the fall-out.

It came up in the debate, with Ford dismissing it as smut, and Corker eliciting the only substantive response from the crowd (laughs), when he replys 'I don't like them either'.  Bob Corker now has two new positive ads running, with those from his family (so now Julia Corker's Facebook is fairgame in TN). In the final week, the NRSC is said to have about $800K in buys to run, compared with over $2M by the DSCC, so Corker now wants to get them off the air.

As for Iraq, Ford's solution to Iraq -divide it into three- makes sense as a long overdue path to getting the hell out of Iraq. Of course, Corker channels Bush and says in response, "If we can't cause a county to come together in one, I know we can't do it dividing it in three." Nevermind Yugoslavia, does the idiot Corker even know it's three different peoples that are in this civil war?

Early voting continues through November 2nd in TN, and the reports coming out are that turnout is up substantially. The DSCC's targeting of "drop-off" voters worked very effectively for Democrats in Virginia during the '05 contest. Meanwhile, the Republican Corker has to distance himself from Bush, while praying that Rove's GOTV operation works better in '06 than '04, because the Dems are at least becoming aware of the lack of coordination, and the DSCC moved into some of the Senate states early. This race in TN is fascinating, and it'd really be a guess to say who wins. I think after the 2nd, we'll be able to look at the EV returns, and see who is in the better position.

There's more...

Huffington Post turned out to be early, and right (perhaps utilyzing opportune pressure). Wal-Mart buckled under the pressure and Terry Nelson was fired for helping Scott Howell to create the quasi-racist ad in Tennessee's US Senate race:

WASHINGTON - A prominent Republican political consultant severed his ties with Wal-Mart on Friday night, forced to resign in the fallout over a controversial political ad in Tennessee's Senate campaign.

In submitting his resignation, Terry Nelson said Wal-Mart had "come under political pressure from liberal special interest groups" as well as labor unions. "It's unfortunate that this pressure has had an impact on Wal-Mart."

Yea, it's unfortunate that John McCain still has a racist thug on his payroll too. Scott Howell is also the adman for George Allen in Virginia.

There's more...

Following up on the Republican admakers post:

Huffington Post has learned that Terry Nelson, a second producer of the racist Corker ad and a consultant to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) and Wal-Mart, is to be fired by Wal-Mart for his role in producing the ad. Developing...Scott Howell was the other ad producer. The maker of the radio ad for Bob Corker was LA-based Jim Davis.

What is John McCain going to do?

UPDATE FROM MATT: Yes, it's that Terry Nelson. The unindicted co-conspirator in the TRMPAC case and James Tobin's boss in the NH phone-jamming scandal.

Update [2006-10-27 17:49:33 by Jerome Armstrong]:According to labor sources, Huffington Post has it wrong, as Wal-Mart has not fired Nelson yet. In fact, Wal-Mart's spokesperson's comment was "it has nothing to do with us and it would be absurd for us to comment on it." Wal-Mart's got no problem having a Republican consultant that's making racist ads in Tennessee, and implicated in the NH phone-jamming scandal on their payroll.

Update [2006-10-27 20:17:8 by Jerome Armstrong]:WakeUpWalmart.com is launching an ad buy on Monday in Tennessee.

There's more...

A racist pattern is emerging from the Republican consultants driving the anti-Ford campaign in Tennessee. To date, Bob Corker has been able to say he's not been apart of the quasi-racist "Hey Harold, Call Me" ad run by the RNC. The ad, created by Scott Howell, is not blatently racist, but the symbolism of a blond woman (whom should be publically shamed and discredited) saying "I met Harold at the Playboy Party" and then "Hey Harold, call me" is historically substantive of the racist attitude that the black man desires the white woman and stirs up inter-racial marriage resentment.

The next pro-Corker move though, is without doubt racist in tone. Jim Davis, an LA-based consultant working for Bob Corker, is the maker of Corker's radio ad with the tom-toms in the background that play while speaking about Harold Ford.

...Bill Lockhart, the program director for WGOW [Chatanooga], confirmed the authenticity of the ad and that it's running on the station. "They're freaking jungle-drums," Lockhart tells us. "It's racist -- it tries to conjure up deep, dark African moods. Yeah, it's overtly racial."Nothing covert about it. Here's the radio clip, now getting coverage by local press in Tennessee:When the ad mentions Corker, the music soars and no tom-toms are audible. Throughout the entire minute-long ad, you hear the rumble of tom-toms every time Ford is mentioned. This ad, keep in mind, quotes Bob Corker himself as having "approved" the message -- meaning it wasn't the work of the Republican National Committee, as in the case of the recent "bimbo"TV ad which drew charges of racism.

There's more...