OPERATION: 718!

Today's New York Times has a front-page interview with Harold Ford, the Tennessee native who wants to challenge Senator Kirsten Gillibrand for the Democratic nomination; there's an extended version of the interview online.

Now, whatever you may say about Ford, you can't deny that he's a really, really brave guy, willing to take risks other mere mortals wouldn't dare. Don't believe me? Consider this:

Q. I am not here to quiz you or try to embarrass you, but I do want to ask you about your life and travels in New York. So here goes. Have you traveled all five boroughs?

A. I will tell you what I did. I was able to do it. Kelly had a -- Chief Kelly, [New York City Police] Commissioner [Raymond] Kelly -- invited, I guess, business people in the city, including Sir. Harold Evans, in my group. We spent the afternoon with the special operations force, and so I had the chance to helicopter to various areas in the boroughs. The only place I have not spent considerable time is Staten Island.

Q. Have you been to Staten Island?

A. I landed there in the helicopter, so I can say yes.

Wow! I bet he wasn't even wearing body armor.

As for All That New York Stuff North Of The Bronx, so far, he says, he's only been to Buffalo and Syracuse -- but maybe, when he travels upstate, he'll get one of those Hurt Locker robots to milk a cow for him.

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Best soundbite from Ford, who's a Merrill Lynch vice chairman:

I think there ought to be a huge-tax cut bill for business people, not only in New York but across the country.

Best fun fact:

He has breakfast most mornings at the Regency Hotel on Park Avenue, and he receives regular pedicures. (He described them as treatment for a foot condition.)

Those cries of "Run, Harold, run!" you hear in the distance are coming from Gillibrand's office.