For many reasons, Rep. Harold Ford of Tennessee does not have it easy.  You'd think being a black man running for the U.S. Senate in a former Confederate state would be enough of a challenge.  But then you'd have to take a look at his family.

His father, who once held the same congressional seat his son holds now, was tried and acquitted on federal bank fraud charges in 1993.  His uncle, Emmitt, resigned from the state House in 1981 after a conviction on insurance fraud.  Another uncle, John, resigned from the state Senate last year after being charged with taking $55,000 in bribes.  About Harold's only good family news lately is that Uncle John's bribery trial was rescheduled from the beginning of this month— a few weeks before Election Day—to February, 2007.

And then you have Harold's brother, Jake Ford, who is running inexplicably as an independent for the same congressional seat Harold is leaving for his Senate race.  Jake is, by turns, a high-school dropout, a political novice, and an arrestee on charges alternating from marijuana possession, DUI, and last but not least, assaulting his father.  Jake's arrest record was revealed this week after the moderator of last week's debate asked him if he had anything in his past the voters would need to know about.

This YouTube clip provides readers with the confessional the moderator was looking for.  Just click, and watch.  It's a doozy.

Harold Ford, Jr. does have some good news to brag about.  Despite being an African-American Senate candidate in a state that has not sent an African-American to the Senate since Reconstruction, the talented congressman is winning.  As the congressman himself once said: "When you figure out the recipe to pick a family, call me.  Otherwise, let us run for the Senate."