Posted on 06/25/2004 5:12:02 AM PDT by areafiftyone
WASHINGTON - As Sen. John Kerry narrows his list of possible running mates, it appears Florida Sen. Bob Graham is still a contender.
People familiar with the selection process say the leading candidates are Rep. Richard Gephardt of Missouri, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina and Graham. It appears Kerry has ruled out Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack and Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.
Graham has met with Kerry several times recently and has appeared with him at many Florida events. Graham also has provided documents to the Kerry campaign for the vetting process.
People close to Graham say that he has revealed little to them about how seriously he is being considered and that he may not know where he stands compared with the other candidates. Kerry campaign officials have been tight-lipped about the selection.
"Who the hell knows?" said Buddy Shorstein, a close adviser to Graham who saw him recently. "He certainly did not show any real emotion about it whatsoever. The senator was very poker-faced about it, as he has always been."
Graham is a veteran of the vice presidential guessing game, having been considered in 1988, 1992 and 2000.
The Kerry campaign is putting a lot of energy into winning Florida's 27 electoral votes, and many Democrats believe adding Graham to the ticket would help the Massachusetts senator in a key state. Polls point to a neck and neck race so far.
Graham has won five statewide races in Florida, though he faced few serious opponents. As a two-term governor he has executive experience, and as former chairman of the Intelligence Committee he has credibility in questioning President Bush's national security and counterterrorism efforts.
Shorstein said Graham would be a big help in Florida.
"I don't know that anybody delivers a state in these things," he said. "But he certainly is a positive. If it's dead-even, he could make the difference."
But the three-term senator ran what was widely seen as a lackluster presidential campaign and lacks the charisma that Edwards offers. Also, his sharp criticism of Bush during the presidential campaign might hurt Graham's appeal in his home state.
Shorstein said he has heard from moderate Republicans who were strong supporters of Graham's Senate and gubernatorial campaigns but were "very upset" by his criticism of Bush.
Still, Shorstein predicted that "time may cure that."
Graham recently finished writing a book, Intelligence Matters, to be published on Sept. 7 that is expected to strongly criticize the Bush administration. Graham said this week that it will contain new material that goes beyond his previous comments.
The timing of the book, just before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, could provide a boost to the Kerry campaign.
"The timing of the book, just before the third anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, could provide a boost to the Kerry campaign." writes the St. Petersberg Times hopefully.
That would probably make it pretty hard to get one of the Democratic "contenders" to run as VP, knowing he was secong choice after a (nominal) Republican...
As if Graham had any.
Yup no bias there! Just more Bush love from the media!
Dims ridicule Cheney for his "bum-ticker." Doubtful they would approve of Graham with his "bum-ticker."
It was posted a couple of days ago but I don't think there was any link on that.
Lindsey? Well, you never know...
LOL - actually I posted an article on that not too long ago, but I would find it very hard to vote for him for president because of his pandering to McCain and Hillary.
Maybe he's willing to publish his OCD journals, LOL.
Wishful thinking on the part of the St. Pete Times (AKA Pravda on the Gulf).
That would surely finish him.
has there ever been this kind of Book Campaign, seemingly led by Viacom, CBS, 60-minutes and the DNC to attack a sitting president without ANY campaign finance concerns? It stinks but has been very effective in taking shots at Bush and filling airtime with antiBush sentiments while Kerry gets to hide.
Please, dear God, let it be true.
Good. No Washington outsider, and no handsome (though dull) moderate Democrat senator from a GOP Midwestern state. Suits me fine. The Democrats could have won this race if they hadn't screwed everything up at every opportunity.
"Graham Cracker". Got it?
Regards, Ivan
No, there hasn't. Call me crazy, but I think the whole "books against Bush" campaign is absolutely orchestrated. There is nothing these guys won't do to get into power. Nothing.
Perhaps he appreciates the absence of it. Rather like people in Somalia appreciate the absence of anything like civic order, or people in North Korea appreciate the absence of anything besides rodents to eat.
Regards, Ivan
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