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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: jackhach who wrote (485708)	11/3/2003 11:43:53 AM
From: Hope Praytochange	Respond to of 769670

Source: Bob Graham Won't Seek Re - Election By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Filed at 11:08 a.m. ET TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- 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. Graham is considered one of the most popular politicians in Florida, where he has served in the Senate since 1987. 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 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. While the state GOP said his presidential campaign might make him vulnerable, analysts considered Graham to be a strong candidate for re-election. Graham faced pressure from fellow Democrats to run for re-election. Republicans hold a 51-48 majority in the current Senate, with one Democratic-leaning independent. Three Democrats have announced plans to retire rather than seek re-election: Sens. Zell Miller of Georgia, John Edwards of North Carolina and Ernest ``Fritz'' Hollings of South Carolina. 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. Yet anti-war activists preferred former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's fist-pounding indignation to Graham's calm, measured arguments against Bush's foreign policy. But Graham accused President Bush 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 -- 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.