To the untrained eye, there's nothing special about the hordes of suit-clad businesspeople who stream into the ground-floor breakfast area. But for those tuned in to city politics, strange bedfellows and secret partnerships can be spotted in nearly every corner.
Recently former Tennessee Rep. Harold Ford Jr. set tongues wagging when he broke bread with leading Democratic pollster Doug Schoen.
"That could be talk about a possible mayoral run," a political consultant speculated, eyeing the duo as they ordered fruit and black coffee, which cost each about $25.
Ford's job as executive vice chairman of Bank of American/Merrill Lynch doesn't seem to have dulled the aspirations of the Memphis political scion. He discussed the possibility of running for mayor last September on The Daily Beast, just months after he decided against a run for the U.S. Senate now held by Kirsten Gillibrand. Recall some of the lumps that Ford took during his flirtation with the Senate race, here, here and here.
I wonder if Ford has anything to do with any of the masses of new fees that Bank of America is imposing on previously free services, which are still free at most banks?