If he doesn't get that VP nod, I'm sure he can return to chasing ambulances!
Posted on 05/18/2003 10:18:54 PM PDT by LdSentinal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Sens. John Edwards and Bob Graham may be busy running for president, but their fellow Democrats back home are in limbo as they anxiously await word on the pair's Senate re-election plans for next year.
Edwards, a freshman from North Carolina, and Graham, a three-term veteran from Florida, have left open the option of running for the Senate again next year if their presidential campaigns do not take off.
The uncertainty has left the Senate races in both states in suspended animation and complicated Democratic hopes of recapturing a Senate majority next year.
"It has put everybody who wants to get in the race in a precarious position," said Florida state Rep. Walter Campbell, who is considering a run for Graham's U.S. Senate seat but expects Graham to eventually wind up back in the Senate race.
"Everybody is on hold, but everybody needs to start making these decisions soon," Campbell said.
In North Carolina, potential Senate prospects like former White House chief of staff Erskine Bowles, who lost to Elizabeth Dole in 2002, and former state House Speaker Dan Blue await Edwards' decision.
Both men have said that if they are going to run they would like to begin by the fall, before Republican Rep. Richard Burr, who is already in the race, gets too much of a head start.
"I think the candidates want to get started as soon as they can," said North Carolina Democratic Party Chairwoman Barbara Allen. "The earlier we can start, the better off we are."
NO TIMETABLE TO DECIDE
Neither Edwards nor Graham have set a timetable to decide, although they might not know the fate of their presidential bids until February of next year. While Graham got a late start after open heart surgery earlier this year, Edwards was the leading fund-raiser in the Democratic presidential field in the first three months.
Continued strong fund-raising performances in the next few quarters of this year would make it highly unlikely that Edwards would drop out early and make a Senate run.
"John is not going to make it hard for anybody," said Allen, adding she expected him to decide by the end of the year. "He's always worked with the party."
Graham said he was encouraging Florida Democrats who were considering Senate runs to "begin their campaigns, begin building an organization and financial base." Democrats Peter Deutsch, a congressman, and Miami-Dade County Mayor Alex Penelas have taken his advice and jumped in the race.
But Campbell said it was not that simple, given the extraordinary effort and large sums of money needed.
Republicans in both states enjoy the Democrats' uncertainty. Republican Rep. Mark Foley and former Rep. Bill McCollum are preparing Senate campaigns in Florida, and Burr already has nearly $2 million for his North Carolina race.
Dan Allen, spokesman for the Republican Senate campaign committee, said Edwards' and Graham's presidential efforts will backfire if they try to return to the Senate. "When they are in Iowa bashing the president, it doesn't sit well with the voters back in North Carolina and Florida," he said.
Graham, a former governor considered the state's most popular politician, would be a favorite in Florida no matter how late he jumps back in the race. Edwards will have more of a fight if he ultimately decides on a Senate run, although he leads Burr in head-to-head polls.
Republicans hold a two-seat margin of power in the Senate and Democrats must defend 19 seats to 15 for Republicans in 2004, but many of the toughest battles will be in states like North Carolina that were carried easily by Bush in 2000.
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