Just before President Bush delivered a Social Security speech recently in Memphis, he met with US Representative Harold E. Ford Jr., who some believe could be an important Democratic player on the issue. ''We prayed together," Ford said. ''He's a great guy. I like him a lot." At a time when Bush is having trouble attracting Democratic support for his proposal, Ford, of Tennessee, has become the focus of extraordinary attention from the White House. Bush aides took notice when last month Ford cofounded a bipartisan group called the Congressional Savings and Ownership Caucus, with goals that sound similar to Bush's calls for an ''ownership society." At the same time, the GOP issued a press release quoting Ford as saying that ''Democrats are going to have to get a better message on Social Security. . . .Our only response cannot be to say, 'No.' "  To be sure, there are serious caveats. Ford said Bush is wrong to support private accounts within Social Security and is disingenuous to assert that the system is inherently unfair to blacks. But, Ford stressed, he would be a willing partner in negotiations if the president would let the accounts be funded outside of Social Security taxes and provisions are made to boost the savings of lower-income workers. [more]

• Black Commentator: Why We Can't Trust Harold Ford Jr. [more]
  
• Pundit Paul Begala -- “any Democrat who rescues Mr. Bush's assault on Social Security ought to be defeated in a primary and allowed to begin their own retirement early [more]
• Pictured above: Harold Ford speaks during the Democratic National Convention in Boston on July 28, 2004