Remember the “Call me” ad targeted at Harold Ford? Some saw an appeal to racism in that it depicted a blonde woman motioning for the young black Congressman to “call her”.

Better late than never, A.C. Kleinheider unearths a video clip that looks eerily like inspiration for the ad. This newscast aired on July 25th. That morning Harold Ford Jr. visited the WKRN newsroom and . . . well, we’ll let AC tell the tale:

If you were watching WKRN this morning you may have seen Mr. Harold Ford, Jr. talking politics with John Dwyer and Heather Orne. A decent performance, I think.

What you don’t see on the video is the young Congressman slipping his bidness [sic] card, complete with the private cell phone digits on the back, into the hands of a comely young lass on the WKRN morning crew.

Keep that card exchange in mind when you watch this “comely young lass” motion for the Congressman to call her. (The gesture is about 4 seconds from the end of the clip.)

Notice anything?

Keep in mind that this newscast on July 25th was BEFORE the “Call me” ad ran.

As AC speculates: “Coincidence or inspiration?”

I’m not sure if this adds to or detracts from the allegations that the ad was an appeal to racism, but what I do know is that the whole thing is pretty funny.

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