Bob Graham

excerpts from the Iowa Daily Report

September 1-15, 2003

… Graham starts throwing around words like “quagmire” again during Iowa public TV session, says GWB should use tonight’s address to nation for apology to Americans. Headline from yesterday’s Des Moines Register: “Graham blasts Bush on TV’s ‘Iowa Press’” Excerpt from report by the Register’s wannabe-tender Thomas Beaumont: “Florida Sen. Bob Graham said Friday the U.S. occupation of Iraq has become a quagmire for which President Bush must apologize to the nation. Graham, one of nine Democratic presidential candidates, spoke on Iowa Public Television's ‘Iowa Press.’ He said Bush, scheduled to address the nation Sunday night, should have come before the public with estimates of casualties and financial costs of post-war Iraq before Sunday. ‘The president ought to say this -- he ought to first start with an apology -- I apologize for not having given this speech before we went to war in Iraq, to explain what the likely consequences in the war in Iraq were likely to be,’ Graham said. Bush also should move quickly to seek help from other nations to send troops to Iraq, Graham said. ‘I don't think we have very much time to execute on that policy,’ said Graham, who opposed the war. ‘We better move as quickly as possible because this quagmire is getting deeper and deeper and we'll have less chance of getting international support 30 days from now than we will today.’ Graham, 66, has been the leading critic among the Democrats running for president of the Bush administration's handling of the war on terrorism. Graham's profile has risen since July, when the joint inquiry into the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, which he co-chaired, released its findings, showing communication failures in federal agencies leading up to the tragedy. Still, the former Florida governor has had little success building support in Iowa and other early nominating states, where polls show him trailing the other candidates. Graham said he plans to focus on his strengths. ‘I think in life the things you have the most gratification from are not necessarily those things from which you get rewards,’ Graham said after the program. Graham dismissed the idea that he was in the race to be considered a candidate for vice president. Graham, who has never lost an election in his more than 30 years in Florida politics, could give Democrats an edge in the state that cost the party the 2000 presidential election. ‘I am running for president of the United States of America,’ Graham said. ‘The president is the one who has responsibilities for our international relations. It is in that position that I am in the best position to be the next president.’” (9/7/2003)

… “Graham to skip his next debate” – headline from today’s Orlando Sentinel. Report says Graham expecting to get $50,000 at FL fundraiser – the same day Bush sweeps into the state to “pick up a fast $2 million.” Excerpt from report by the Sentinel’s political ace Mark Silva: “Sen. Bob Graham will skip a debate next week and instead return to Florida to raise money for his lagging presidential campaign. The reason? There will be many more debates among the Democratic contenders in the months to come, his campaign says. But Graham also is scrambling to raise money before a key deadline at month's end that will be a measure of his campaign's viability. In the meantime, while Graham collects an expected $50,000 in Pensacola on Tuesday, President Bush will sweep into the state on the same day and pick up a fast $2 million for his re-election bid in Jacksonville and Fort Lauderdale. Graham will forgo a debate in Baltimore sponsored by the Congressional Black Caucus to tend to his fund raising in Florida -- but Graham is pledging to attend another Black Caucus-sponsored debate in Detroit in October. Pensacola trial lawyer Fred Levin will serve as host Tuesday for a fund-raiser at which they hope to provide another $50,000. Levin also thinks that if Graham's presidential bid falls short, the senator will seek re-election to a fourth term. Graham maintains that he is running for president and does not intend to appear on any other ballot in 2004. However, with the permission of his contributors, the presidential money Graham raises could be used to finance a Senate campaign. The Graham campaign asked the Democratic National Committee if Graham could appear via satellite at another party-sponsored debate on Sept. 23 in Phoenix. But the DNC insisted that Graham attend. The Phoenix debate, to be staged in one of the earliest-voting winter primary-election states, is one of six encounters the party is sponsoring…Fund raising has become one of the greatest challenges for Graham since Howard Dean, the former governor of Vermont, started surging. Money is just one measure in which Graham is trailing a crowded field of Democrats. He trails most of them in early polling for both Iowa's Jan. 19 caucuses and New Hampshire's Jan. 27 primary. Graham raised just $2 million in the most recent fund-raising quarter, after raising $1.1 million with a late-starting campaign formally launched in early May. This is a fraction of the more than $10 million that Dean has reported this year.” (9/8/2003)

… Must-see TV: Wannabe Candid Camera playing in DC this week – as union members seek to find “human sides” of the Dem contenders.  Headline from yesterday’s Washington Post: “Union Puts Democratic Candidates on Candid Camera” The report: “The Democratic presidential candidates will troop before another of the party's constituency groups here in Washington [Monday] at the convention of the Service Employees International Union, but this will be more than the ordinary candidate forum. The SEIU is one of the largest unions in the AFL-CIO, and its members have not yet endorsed a candidate for the Democratic nomination. This week's meetings will help determine whether any of the Democratic candidates receive the union's backing. The candidates will each speak to the members and will be seen in other ways. SEIU officials recruited a group of young filmmakers to travel with each of the candidates and prepare short videos designed to present the human sides of the politicians. The SEIU members will see Sen. Bob Graham (Fla.) talking about what his grandchildren call him (‘Doodle,’ and when he's really good to them, ‘Super Doodle’). They'll see Rep. Richard A. Gephardt (Mo.) try to rave about how much he likes hot dogs. And they'll see Sen. John F. Kerry (Mass.) threading a microphone up through his shirt as one of the filmmakers asks him if he would drink a beer with them if they brought a six-pack to the interview the next day. ‘You're damn right I would,’ Kerry says. ‘I might drink more than one.’ ‘Good news,’ says the filmmaker. The candidates won't get anywhere with the SEIU leadership without a plan for expanding health care coverage, but union President Andrew L. Stern said that the films and other activities planned for the candidates will help his members gauge how well the Democratic contenders connect with voters. ‘We think it's very important that by the [time of the] elections, voters have a sense this is a candidate they would like to have dinner with, go bowling with,’ he said. ‘I think George Bush did incredibly well in the last election, and Al Gore had his problems.’”(9/9/2003)

... Graham – who’s rapidly becoming the nuttiest of the Dem wannabes – passes on chance to clarify FL Senate race. Headline from this morning’s The Union Leader: “Graham coy on Senate” Excerpt from AP report: “Democrat John Edwards has made his preference clear -- yes on the presidency, no on a second term in the Senate. Bob Graham declined to be as definitive Tuesday. For months, the Florida lawmaker has said his name won't be on the ballot in next year's Senate election because he will already be the Democratic presidential nominee. But he has never ruled out pursuing a fourth term if his presidential bid falters. Graham continued to parse his words carefully Tuesday as reporters questioned him during a conference call to discuss education funding. ‘I have made that decision and that decision is that I'm running for president of the United States and I'm not running for any other position,’ Graham said. Pressed on whether he might seek re-election in the future, Graham shrugged off the question. Instead, he expressed confidence in his presidential campaign, saying he would have a solid quarter raising money. The period ends Sept. 30. ‘We're focused on being the 44th president of the United States,’ Graham said. Graham was asked about his plans two days after North Carolina's Edwards, one of Graham's rivals for the nomination, said he would not seek another term in the Senate so he could focus on a presidential bid. For months, Graham has encouraged potential successors to start working on their bids to replace him in the Senate. ‘I've told those candidates who have expressed their interest that they should start their engines, begin organizing and fund raising to maximize their chances of success,’ he said Tuesday.  (9/10/2003)

.. Lagging Dem Wannabe Bob Graham's got the stuff, but lacks the moves. Miami Herald online report headline: “Graham at bottom of polls in key states.” Miami Herald reporter Peter Wallsten says Graham’s right stuff isn’t clicking. Excerpts: “ `He's got a great résumé, gray hair, all over, not just around the temples. He's the ideal mature, Southern candidate. But something's just not clicking.' – Pollster John Zogby. Despite months of aggressive campaigning for president, Sen. Bob Graham is stuck at the bottom of the Democratic pack in key early primary states. A new poll of likely voters in Iowa, home of the first-in-the-nation caucuses in four months, puts Graham at 1 percent in the field of Democratic contenders -- statistically tied with cellar-dweller contenders Al Sharpton, Carol Moseley Braun and Dennis Kucinich… The Iowa poll, released Thursday by Zogby International, is the first major measuring stick since Graham led his wife, daughters and 10 grandchildren on a 10-day ''family vacation'' designed to boost his profile in a state where strategists believe he must finish at least fourth to be taken seriously. The poll of 500 likely caucus voters has a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points… ''He's the Reubin Askew and Fritz Hollings of 2004,'' pollster John Zogby said, referring to the former Florida governor and South Carolina senator who each ran for president once but found that their popularity at home never translated to a national stage.…. The continued lagging, experts and Graham friends said in interviews, now threatens to stunt fundraising efforts at a critical time -- just as the campaign is preparing to hit the airwaves with its first TV ads and weeks before the current financial quarter ends, when advisors had hoped to show an impressive collection of cash…. ‘It makes raising money more difficult when you're not moving up to at least the mid-single digit range to show momentum to the people you're trying to raise money from,’ said Ron Book, a lobbyist and former Graham aide who is raising money for the campaign. ``The tempo needs to be accelerated, and the campaign needs to get far more aggressive in swift fashion.'' (9/12/2003)

… Although most wannabes avoided 9/11 campaigning, Graham hit Bush yesterday on continuing theme that the Iraq conflict undercut anti-terrorism issues. Graham alleges that GWB has made Iraq a battleground for international terrorism. In New York, the FL wannabe said, “Iraq was not part of the war on terrorism prior to our military invasion.”   (9/12/2003)

… Too many grams – or Grahams or Gramms: Are Iowans confusing Wannabe Graham with former GOP wannabe and Texas Sen. Gramm? Report by Orlando Sentinel’s Silva: “There may be more than a gram of truth in this: Iowans are confusing Bob Graham, a Democrat running for president, with Phil Gramm, a Republican who ran. How else to explain the latest Zogby International Poll in Iowa? Never mind that Graham, the senior senator from Florida, is still the choice of just 1 percent of all likely caucus-goers in the Sept. 8-9 survey. It's the sour view of Graham in this poll that is problematic. Among Iowans who even recognize the name -- which is fewer than half -- more voters (23 percent) have a negative impression than those (21 percent) who hold a favorable view. They have about the same enthusiasm for the Rev. Al Sharpton. Could it be that Iowa's Democrats are confusing Florida's Graham with Phil Gramm of Texas, the former Republican senator who ran for president there in 1996? ‘I think you are right,’ a senior Graham adviser concedes. ‘We need to put a face on Bob Graham.’ That means running TV ads, like other candidates already are running. But when? ‘Soon.’ Perhaps Graham is better recognized in California. Gov. Gray Davis hopes so, it seems. Graham plans to campaign Tuesday with Davis against the recall of the California governor.” (9/14/2003)

… Graham defends decision to criticize Bush policies on 9/11, says they were delivered “in the best tradition” of political dialogue. Headline from Friday’s The Union Leader: “Graham: Iraq has become battleground for terrorists” Excerpt from Associated Press coverage by Devlin Barrett in New York: “Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham assailed President Bush on the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, arguing that the Iraq conflict undercut the war on terror and transformed the Persian Gulf nation into a magnet for terrorists. The only candidate of the nine challengers to criticize Bush on Thursday, the former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee said Iraq was not a battleground in the global war on terrorism until the president decided to use force to topple Saddam Hussein's regime. ‘Iraq was not part of the war on terrorism prior to our military invasion,’ the Florida senator told reporters. ‘The reason it's now part of it is because terrorists have been induced to come into Iraq because of their enmity toward the United States and the circumstances inside Iraq. Our real enemies continue to be al-Qaida, Hezbollah and other international terror groups which have their base of operations outside of Iraq.’ Blocks from the World Trade Center site, Graham delivered the same criticism of the Bush administration's foreign policy that he has said repeatedly on the campaign trail. Of the six lawmakers seeking the Democratic nomination, only Graham and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio voted against the congressional resolution authorizing the use of military force in Iraq; Graham contended that it shifted the focus from the pursuit of terrorists. ‘The elimination of Saddam Hussein had a series of adverse affects on the United States, only one of which is the fact that we've taken the focus off the war on terrorism, and therefore allowed al-Qaida to regenerate and allow an even more competent group of terrorists, Hezbollah, to go untouched,’ Graham told the Council on Foreign Relations. Most of the candidates put their campaigns on hold on the second anniversary of the attacks. Some took part in memorial services, others had no public events. Asked if political criticism was appropriate on Sept. 11, Graham defended his comments, saying it was ‘in the best tradition...to reflect on what we have done to reduce the prospect of another Sept. 11.’ Graham said Bush has strayed from the anti-terrorism priorities set in 2001. The effect of the war outside Iraq, he argued, has been to encourage recruitment of militants, strain relations with needed allies and sharpen the religious fervor of anti-American sentiment. For those reasons, and what he called the shortcomings of homeland defense funding and organization, Graham said the country is no more secure than it was two years ago. The candidate predicted it would take about five years of effort in Iraq ‘to do the things that are urgent.’” (9/14/2003)

… IOWA PRES WATCH NOTE: Graham embraces laudable goal of helping U. S. troops – but does anybody care or make any difference in Graham’s fading bid for the presidency. Excerpt from report by AP’s Nedra Pickler: “Democratic presidential candidate Bob Graham said Friday that the least the government can do for soldiers who are injured or get sick in the line of duty is let them keep their meal allowance. Soldiers in the field get $8.10 a day for food, but since those who are hospitalized get free hospital meals, the military requires them to repay the allowance. Graham, a Florida senator, said he will introduce a bill next week that prevents them from having to reimburse the government. Rep. C.W. Bill Young, R-Florida, sponsored a similar bill in the House after learning that Marine Staff Sgt. Bill Murwin of Nevada had been billed $243 for his meals while hospitalized due to wounds suffered in Iraq. Part of his left foot was amputated. Graham's bill would cover those who get sick as well as injured. ‘How can we justify spending billions of dollars on no-bid contracts to rebuild Iraq, then turn around and charge an injured soldier $8.10 a day for meals while they are being treated for war injuries?’ Graham said in a statement.”  (9/14/2003)

September 16-30, 2003

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