Fight for Frist's Seat Crucial in Larger Battle for Senate Control

NASHVILLE, Aug. 2 -- The state Republican primary Thursday for Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's seat is a bitter three-way battle and a race to watch ahead of the showdown over Senate power come November.

The seat is one of six in the Senate that Democrats would have to win if they hope to take control in the Nov. 7 general election, political observers say.

Frist, who is stepping down to mull over a presidential bid, has not endorsed a candidate in the GOP primary. The winner will most likely face Rep. Harold E. Ford Jr., who has no serious Democratic primary opposition and is hoping to become the first black U.S. senator elected in the South since Reconstruction.

Bob Corker, a former Chattanooga mayor, leads the three Republicans in fundraising, and a recent Mason-Dixon poll of 400 likely Republican voters gave him a 16-percentage-point lead, well beyond the 5-point margin of error.

Corker has raised $6.6 million from outside sources and has put in more than $2 million of his own money. Former congressmen Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary have each raised about $2.2 million.

Hilleary and Bryant, who both arrived in Congress during the 1994 Republican Revolution, have questioned Corker's conservative credentials, particularly on abortion.

In 1994, Corker said he was personally opposed to abortion but did not believe it was a government issue. He now says he opposes abortion rights. Corker has fired back with TV ads calling Hilleary and Bryant ineffective as congressmen.

Any of the three Republicans would be favored over Ford in the general election, but it is not hopeless for the Democrats, said Merle Black, a political science professor at Emory University in Atlanta.

"I don't think anyone would make him the favorite in the race, but he certainly has a shot," Black said of Ford.

Ford, whose father represented Memphis in the House for two decades, has urged supporters to ignore attempts to link him to the political and legal troubles of relatives.

His father was tried and acquitted on federal bank fraud charges in 1993. An uncle, former state Sen. John Ford, is under federal indictment on corruption charges. An aunt, Ophelia Ford, was removed from the state Senate after lawmakers overturned a special election following allegations of voting fraud. Her campaign was not accused of wrongdoing.