Tenn. Defies Cliches on Race and Politics

As her chances fell, Tinker ran a television ad criticizing Cohen, who is Jewish, for going into "our churches, clapping his hands and tapping his feet" while being the only congressman "who thought our kids shouldn't be allowed to pray in school."

The other TV ad was worse, observers said. In it, a former Shelby County commissioner, Walter Bailey, who is black, stood near a park statue of Nathan Bedford Forrest, the pro-slavery Civil War general who helped organize the KKK.

"It is inconceivable to continue to honor such a despicable human being," Bailey said. "When I tried to change the name, the only person who voted no was Steve Cohen. This makes you wonder who is the real Steve Cohen."

A who's who of current and former black elected officials, including Obama and Ford, whom Cohen succeeded, condemned the ad. Cohen had already lined up significant black supporters, such as Maxine Smith, a local civil rights legend, and Isaac Hayes, the singing star from Memphis. Smith dismissed race.

"We need the best representative we can get," she said.

Facing defeat, Tinker threw out ads like desperate Hail Mary passes, Moore said, but racial politics could not save her in this election season.

"They were looking for something radical," Moore said. "But if you can't get black people riled up by the Ku Klux Klan, you can't get them riled up for anything."