New York State, one of the most corrupt political entities on the planet, has long been a graveyard for aspiring African American politicians.  As Mayor of the City of New York, David Dinkins — the first and so far last black mayor — presided over the infamous Crown Heights race riot in 1991, as well as a horrific murder rate that topped 2,000 homicides a year during his infelicitous one-term administration, and was easily defeated by Rudy Giuliani in their electoral rematch in 1993.

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But most black politicians never even get that far. Although demographics have shifted, the state is still largely controlled by the bastard idiot children of the Tammany Hall ethnic groups — the Irish, the Italians and the Jews — who grabbed controlled of the Democrat Party starting in the late 19th century and never let go. (Someone should write a novel on this subject!) For years, the Republicans controlled the state senate under their leader, Joe Bruno, the Democrats ran the assembly under their leader, Sheldon Silver, and the two criminal organizations split control of the state house under various hapless nonentities like George Pataki.

Until David Paterson found himself sitting in Albany in the wake of Eliot “Love Client No. 9″ Spitzer’s sudden resignation, black politicians needed not apply — as Carl McCall, the former state comptroller, found out in 2002, when he fought a bruising primary battle for the Democrat gubernatorial nomination against Andrew Cuomo, son of the former governor, and incurred the wrath of the Clinton Machine.  The sleazy, slippery Cuomo, currently state attorney general, had Paterson in his sights this year and probably would have defeated him in a primary until the New York Times did his dirty work for him and Paterson announced he would not run this fall.

The latest African American to see his political hopes founder upon the old Tammany wigwam is Harold Ford., Jr., the carpetbagging scion of the fabulously corrupt Ford family of Tennessee:

His father 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. He has pleaded not guilty, and his trial is set for October, within weeks of the election.

Ford Jr. confronts his family’s reputation head-on during campaign stops, telling critics to “shut up” and asking voters to consider his record instead of his family’s problems.

With a background like that, Harold Ford, Jr., is certainly well-qualified to represent New York State in the U.S. Senate, and might have made a formidable challenger to Kirsten Gillibrand, the upstate cipher appointed by Paterson to keep Hillary Clinton’s senate seat warm and to act as Sen. Charles “Schemer” Schumer’s sock puppet.

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Now comes word that Harold Ford, Jr., will not in fact be challenging Sen. Cipher.  From the New York Post:

Tennessee transplant and former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. has decided not to challenge unelected incumbent Kirsten Gillibrand for her US Senate seat, sources said tonight.

“I heard from Harold Ford and he has decided not to run,” said Assemblyman Vito Lopez, the Kings County Democratic chairman who had strongly indicated a willingness to back Ford. After giving it considerable thought and talking it over with his wife, he reached the conclusion that he would not be running, although he said he would like to remain active in the Democratic Party here,” Lopez continued.

Al Smith and Tammany Hall

Translation: Harold Ford, Jr., had it explained to him by Sen. Schemer — in the nicest possible way — that challenging Sen. Sock Puppet might be deleterious to his political health and that, like other black politicians who get too big for their britches — Charlie Rangel, call your office! — he should take his seat in the back of the bus, and like it.

Which he’s now done.  From the New York Times:

WHEN it was reported two months ago that I was thinking seriously about running for the United States Senate from New York, Democratic Party insiders started their own campaign to bully me out of the race — just as they had done with Representatives Carolyn Maloney, Steve Israel and others.

The cruel twist, of course, is that the party bosses who tried to intimidate me so that I wouldn’t even think about running against Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, who had been appointed to the seat by Gov. David A. Paterson, are the same people responsible for putting Democratic control of the Senate at risk.

Somewhere, the ghost of George Washington Plunkitt is smiling.