It appears that Graham will be leaving the Senate:
story.news.yahoo.com
Source: Bob Graham Won't Seek Re-Election
By BRENT KALLESTAD, Associated Press Writer
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Sen. Bob Graham, who dropped his bid for the Democratic nomination for president last month, has decided not to seek re-election to a fourth Senate term in 2004, a source close to Graham said Monday.
Graham, a former Florida governor, said there were other things he wanted to do, the source said. The source said Graham had pledged to help the Democratic Party keep the seat in Democratic hands.
The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Graham was expected to make the announcement later Monday.
Graham's decision further complicates hopes by the Democrats to regain control of the Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-48 majority, with one Democratic-leaning independent.
He is the fourth southern Democrat to announce he will not run again, joining Georgia's Zell Miller, South Carolina's Fritz Hollings, and North Carolina's John Edwards.
Graham is considered one of the most popular politicians in Florida, where he has served in the Senate since 1987. While the state GOP said his presidential campaign might make him vulnerable, analysts considered Graham to be a strong candidate for re-election.
Five Democrats — former state Education Commissioner Betty Castor, U.S. Reps. Allen Boyd, Peter Deutsch and Alcee Hastings, and Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas — declared for the Senate seat but vowed not to challenge Graham if he sought re-election.
The field of Republicans seeking Graham's seat include state House Speaker Johnnie Byrd, legal activist Larry Klayman, former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum and state Sen. Dan Webster of the Orlando area.
Graham, who turns 67 on Sunday, delayed his entry into the presidential contest to recover from major heart surgery in January. He based much of his campaign on his vote against the military conflict in Iraq (news - web sites). Yet anti-war activists preferred former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (news - web sites)'s fist-pounding indignation to Graham's calm, measured arguments against Bush's foreign policy.
But Graham accused President Bush (news - web sites) of endangering Americans by abandoning the fight against terror to wage war in Iraq, which he said did not pose an immediate threat to the United States.
He cited a "Nixonian stench" in the White House, arguing the Bush administration formed a pattern of keeping information from the American people while calling Bush's tax cuts "immoral."
He went so far as to suggest impeachment. "If the standard of impeachment that the Republicans set for Bill Clinton (news - web sites) — a personal, consensual relationship was the basis for impeachment, would not a president who knowingly deceived the American people about something as important as whether to go to war meet the standard of impeachment?" he said in July.
Graham, who has built a reputation for his low-key, methodical approach to legislation, served last year as chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, where he was at the forefront of the debate over the nation's preparedness against terrorism.
He handily defeated current Attorney General Charlie Crist in 1998 with 62 percent of the vote and has not faced a serious challenge since defeating Sen. Paula Hawkins in 1986. |
