As we reported yesterday, RNC Chairman Michael Steele and potential Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. have a history together, appearing in forums around the country over the past two years.
They had their latest last night at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, for which the two were paid a total of $40,000. (And good, too: Ford recently took a leave of absence from Merrill-Lynch in order to campaign, and told the New York Post that he’d have to rely on a teaching gig at NYU and a pundit gig on MSNBC to “put food on the table.” Steele, however, has gotten into some trouble for doing paid speaking gigs while RNC chair.)
There may not have been the rhetorical fireworks you’d expect, but there was a gem or two in the debate, according to the Commercial Appeal.
At one point, Steele attacked President Obama for letting the Bush tax cuts expire for families who make more than $250,000.
“Trust me, after taxes, a million dollars is not a lot of money,” Steele said.
Ford, who recently took a leave of absence from his job at Merrill-Lynch in order to campaign, later asked the student audience a question:
“Who in here makes a million dollars a year?” he asked. When no hands shot up, Steele jumped in with the save.
“How many of you want to make a million dollars a year?” Steele said.
Ford and Steele have appeared together at least four times in the past: In October 2008 at Duke, October 2009 at American University, April 2008 at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, and in March 2009 at a hedge fund forum in Washington, D.C.
As far as other issues, Ford — who may challenge Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) for the Democratic nomination — said he wants Congress to “start over” on health care. Steele said he wanted health care based on a “consensus.”
On Citizens United, the Supreme Court decision which cleared the way for corporations to spend directly in political campaigns, the two disagreed.
While Ford said it was “a win for very monied interests,” Steele took his party’s “Free Speech” view of the decision.
“If the people see an ad that’s run by a corporation that they don’t like, they’ll let them know,” he said.
