Elected to Congress at the ripe age 26, Ford also jumped on the Wall Street bandwagon relatively early in his professional career.
In 2006, after 10 years in office, the scion of a prominent democratic family in Tennessee cut his political losses after conceding a close senate battle to Republican Bob Corker. He promptly took a job with Merrill Lynch as Vice Chairman and senior policy advisor, a position that, according to the New York Times, guaranteed Ford compensation of $2 million annually.
He's since gone on to Morgan Stanley, and in 2010, he flirted with running for a New York Senate seat, only to pass on the bid after concluding that a tough democratic primary with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand would bolster Republicans in the general election.
