On a breezy late September evening, in an open-air hangar at a private residence here, the Republican politician says he's getting accustomed to "contrasting" himself with the Democrat he's up against in the U.S. Senate seat. Talking to 100 or so supporters who paid $50 per couple for barbecue sandwiches and to hear him speak, Bob Corker tells them, "I'm getting used to it and
I kind of enjoy it a little bit, to be honest."
He promises to be nice. As the former mayor of Chattanooga segues into the part of his stump speech where he points out differences between himself and U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., he talks about his early career as a builder. And for several at the fundraiser in this Wilson County suburb of Nashville, Robert Phillip Corker Jr.'s life story as a small-time construction worker who amassed a real estate empire is why they plan to support him.
"He's a businessman," said John Baugh, 43, a businessman and farmer in Lebanon. "He has been under pressure making a payroll. That's hard to do."
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The race to fill retiring Majority Leader Bill Frist's seat looks to be a nail-biter. Republicans consider a win here the firewall to keep Democrats from taking control of the U.S. Senate. "This is a very, very close race," Corker tells supporters as they dine in a hangar transformed from a shelter for a four-seat bush plane to a place for a casual dinner party bedecked with pumpkins and mums and Corker banners.
So to this crowd and others for those who haven't seen the attack ads or may be undecided about whom to back Corker spells out what he considers to be a clear choice. Corker, 54, says he's been in Tennessee all his adult life, while Ford has lived in Washington since he was 9. "Our view of the world could not be more different," Corker said. "I hope you see in me common-sense conservative values." He points out that while he was in Chattanooga building a business or serving as mayor, Ford spent much of his life in Washington. Corker, who was born in Orangeburg, S.C., moved to Tennessee when he was 11 years old.
"I'm not anti-Ford at all," Baugh said. It's just that Corker's "got a few more years and maturity," he said. 
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