KELO POLITICS

From Robert Novak:

Rep. Harold Ford, one of the brightest young Democratic lights in the House and a Senate candidate in Tennessee next year, stunned colleagues by endorsing the Supreme Court's unpopular Kelo decision. That ruling permitted a Connecticut city to seize homeowners' property and transfer it to private developers.

"We have a lot of properties in my city [Memphis] . . . that are crying out for development," Ford said on a Nashville radio talk show. The congressman asserted, "I've always been one to believe that individual rights is a big thing," but added, "there is some real value to this decision."

A footnote: House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also went against the popular tide by defending Kelo. Opposing congressional efforts to nullify the court's decision, she said it was "almost as if God has spoken."