Polished, suave, and highly educated, both Ford and Obama have made keynote speeches at Democratic National Conventions and are considered “golden boys” for the party.

“They don’t fit the ‘boyz in the hood’ stereotype,” said Melissa Harris-Lacewell, a professor of politics and African American Studies at Princeton University.

The race in Tennessee is considered too close to call, but if Ford wins, he would be the first black U.S. senator from the South since Reconstruction. Obama is only the fifth Black senator in U.S. history, though it has been 41 years since the Civil Rights Act was passed and 141 years since slavery ended.

Even if he fails this time, Ford is likely to remain on the political scene as part of a new wave of leaders who have recently come of age.

They are part of “a new guard of black leadership that is just emerging to burst here,” said Donna Brazille, the campaign manager for Al Gore's 2000 Presidential Campaign, in a June 2005 NPR interview.

Older black politicians came into politics fresh out of the Civil Rights Era. Compared to their predecessors, Ford and his compatriots are political insiders. "They fundamentally come from politics," Harris-Lacewell said. For Ford, politics was a natural choice. When his father, a former Congressman from Tennessee, announced he was not going to run for another term in 1996, Ford, who was still a law student at University of Michigan, decided to step into his father's shoes. He was in class Tuesday to Thursday every week, and in Tennessee campaigning the rest of the time. He won the seat and was reelected four times.
The old brigade includes Congressmen Charles Rangel of New York and Bobby Rush of Illinois. They were raw and street smart. Famous for their fearlessness, Rangel and Rush were arrested for protesting against genocide in Sudan in front of the Sudanese Embassy in 2004. In 1999, Rangel was also arrested for protesting the shooting of Amadou Diallo, an African American, by four white police officers.

These politicians were, and still are, deeply rooted in the African American communities that they represent, said Michael Dawson, Professor of Political Science at The University of Chicago. Ford's father, who served as a Tennessee Congressman for more than 20 years, relied heavily on votes from blacks in his district.
Ford and Obama, in contrast, "target a wide range of ethnic groups and have downplayed racial identification and racial appeal," Dawson said. They have been more successful than older Black politicians in garnering crossover votes, though they too, rely on the votes of the African American constituency.

But while Ford and Obama have some similar political tactics and stances, there are several differences between them.
“Barack takes moderate, strategic positions on issues,” Harris-Lacewell said, while “Harold’s identity is much more clearly conservative.”

Both are opposed to legalizing gay marriage, but Harris-Lacewell wagers that Obama is playing a strategic card while Ford is truly opposed to the concept.

“Barack is a member of the church I attended in Chicago and it was clear from our minister that gay marriage was fine. I don’t think Barack’s opposed to gay marriage, but strategically, he’s taken the position of favoring civil unions,” she said.

Ford is also more comfortable playing religious politician in the faith-infused South.

In Chattanooga a few weeks ago, Ford praised the Lord as he spoke. “"I love Jesus, I can't help it," he said. “We serve such a big God."

In a July 2006 USA Today article, Obama wrote, “During my 2004 Senate race, my opponent said, ‘Jesus Christ would not vote for Barack Obama.’” The witty senator replied that he was “running to be the U.S. senator of Illinois, and not the minister of Illinois.”

Harris-Lacewell has no doubt that if Ford makes it to the Senate, the two politicians will butt heads on more than one count. “It is true that all politics are local, and that what it will take to keep a Southern White constituency in Tennessee happy is different from what it will take Obama to keep Illinois happy,” she said.

But for now, Obama is rooting for Ford, with the hope that another African American can win a Senate seat. At a rally in Memphis a few months ago, Obama urged the people of Tennessee to support Ford in his battle against the odds. “You will hear the same things about Harold that they said about me,” Obama said. “It's too tough. You can't elect a black Democrat in Tennessee to the United States Senate.”