Sen. Bob Graham (D) Elected 1986, 3d term up 2004
Born:	Nov. 9, 1936, Coral Gables
Home:	Miami Lakes
Education:	U. of FL, B.A. 1959, Harvard, J.D. 1962
Religion:	United Church of Christ
Marital Status:	married (Adele)
Elected  Office:	FL House of Reps., 1966-70; FL Senate, 1970-78; FL Gov., 1978-1986.
Professional Career:	The Graham Cos., Sengra Development Corp., 1962-66.
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Bob Graham, senior Senator from Florida, was first elected governor in 1978 and senator in 1986. He comes from a prominent Florida family and grew up outside Miami on a dairy farm. His father Ernest Graham was a state senator from 1936 to 1944 and in 1944 ran unsuccessfully for governor; his much older half-brother was the publisher of the Washington Post. He graduated from the University of Florida and Harvard Law School, then with his brothers developed the dairy farm as the planned city of Miami Lakes. He has been in politics almost all his adult life. He was elected to the state House in 1966, at 30, and to the state Senate in 1970. In 1978 he ran for governor. After a come-from-behind win in the Democratic runoff, he won the general with a solid 56%. He was highly popular and easily won reelection in 1982. In 1986 he ran against Republican Senator Paula Hawkins, and after a spirited campaign won 55%-45%. His trademark campaign device since 1978 has been work days (invented by Senator Tom Harkin for his 1974 House race): Graham worked one day a week at some local job, from bagging groceries to construction, weighing and tagging Gulf sturgeon on the Apalachicola River on a hot August Monday or building an elementary school in Miami Lakes. He keeps it up still, once a month, and in December 2002 logged his 385th work day as a disc jockey at a Miami Haitian radio station. After September 11 he worked on jobs related to homeland security, as an airport police officer in Jacksonville and a security officer at Port Everglades. He is a careful and methodical man. He wears only ties with an outline of Florida and makes percentage estimates of just about everything. He has a habit of recording every meeting and meal in notebooks he has kept--more than 2,500 now--and on one occasion, noted down a pilot's crash landing instruction. This was ridiculed when mentioned in Time in 2000; but as political scientist Larry Sabato pointed out, Thomas Jefferson did the same things.

On domestic issues, Graham's Senate voting record has been moderate. He has been a hardliner on crime legislation, supporting capital punishment, seeking federal reimbursement to states which jail criminal aliens. He serves on the Finance Committee and has called for means-testing Medicare and reducing cost-of-living increases in Social Security--not Democratic orthodoxy and risky in Florida. He called for Medicare to use managed care techniques, like negotiating contracts with competitive bidding, to hold down costs. He has fashioned several bills for prescription drugs for seniors. In June 2000 he sponsored the Senate Democrats' bill, with premiums of $40 a month and a deductible of $250 and full payment of costs over $4,000 for those below a certain income level; it was rejected on party lines. In May 2002 he and Zell Miller introduced a bill with a $25 per month premium, government payment of half of costs up to $4,000 and full payment of costs over that; it was costed out as $425 billion over eight years. At first it attracted no support from either Republicans or Democrats. Then, after the House passed its own different version in June 2002, he began refashioning it to pick up support. In June 2002 Senate Democrats, led by Tom Daschle and Edward Kennedy, embraced a version that eventually used Medicaid as a vehicle and was costed at $390 billion over 10 years. In July 2002, it came to the floor and was beaten 50-49. Since it exceeded the 2001 budget resolution, it required 60 votes for passage; no bill passed.

But by that point Graham was spending most of his time on intelligence matters. He became a member of the Intelligence Committee in 1993 and chairman in June 2001 when Democrats gained their majority in the Senate. Graham had generally taken hard line stands on foreign policy. He voted for the Gulf War resolution. A staunch opponent of Fidel Castro, Graham has strongly backed the embargo on Cuba. He wanted to stem the flow of Haitian refugees to Florida, and backed the dispatch of U.S. troops to Haiti. In late 2000 and early 2001 he argued that the Elian Gonzalez case should be settled in state court; he co-sponsored the bill to make the boy a U.S. citizen. He got a commitment from Bill Clinton not to seize Elian at night, which Clinton violated. On Intelligence he was generally supportive of CIA Director George Tenet, who had been a staffer on the Senate Intelligence Committee before he was appointed CIA Director by Bill Clinton in 1997. Graham developed a good working relationship with fellow Floridian Porter Goss (whom he had appointed to the Lee County Commission in 1982), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee and a former CIA agent who was also supportive of Tenet and had urged his continuation in office in the Bush administration. On the morning of September 11, 2001, Graham and Goss were having breakfast in the Capitol with General Mehmood Ahmed, the chief of Pakistani intelligence, asking him about Osama bin Laden when they were informed of the attacks on the World Trade Center towers. They quickly left the Capitol. Graham held a press conference that afternoon in front of Florida House on Capitol Hill and appeared on three cable news networks that evening; he compared the attacks to Pearl Harbor and said the United States could and should respond with force. The next day he called for an "intelligence czar," to gather information; the day after he said other attacks might be imminent. Working with Goss, he got authorization of an 8% increase in intelligence spending.

In February 2002 the joint inquiry into intelligence failures by the Senate and House Intelligence committees began; the two Floridians were co-chairmen. This was a rocky process. The first chief counsel was forced out in April 2002, by Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate committee, who had called for Tenet's resignation. Graham publicly complained of difficulty in getting information from the FBI in May and of CIA "obstructionism" in October. As information came out, Graham concluded that there was information available to various parts of government that, if acted upon, could conceivably have prevented the September 11 attacks if only someone had been able to "connect the dots." By December, the joint inquiry issued a report that Graham said should be a guide to the presidential commission appointed to study the question.

On the Iraq war resolution in October 2002, Graham took a unique stand. He introduced an amendment authorizing action not only against Saddam Hussein's Iraq but also against Hezbollah and four other terrorist organizations. He argued that Hezbollah had even more agents in the United States than Al Qaeda and that they all stood ready to take terrorist action in this country should the United States move against Iraq, and that the U.S. military should "absolutely" attack Hezbollah camps in Syria, Lebanon and Iran. The amendment was rejected 88-10; the Bush administration argued against it on the grounds that it would detract from support to act against Iraq. Graham argued that this was the wrong priority. He voted against the Iraq war resolution, but did not argue, as some other Democrats did, that the United States needed to get United Nations approval first. Rather, he said, "Because I thought it was too limited, too weak and too timid. I take a different lesson out of what happened September 11. That is, as we look at foreign involvements, we need also to ask what are going to be the consequences of our actions there, here at home. Our best analysts say that the prospects of us accomplishing our objective in Iraq, which is regime change, increase to the level of 75% or more the chances of attacks inside the United States. That does not cause me to come to the conclusion we should cower from using force against Saddam Hussein. Rather, it causes me to feel we need to set the table before we start to use force--setting it in such a way as to reduce the vulnerability of the American people." In his view, the fight against Al Qaeda and Hezbollah took priority.

On a related issue, in November 2002 the Senate and House both passed Graham's bill on port security. His original measure would have authorized $3.2 billion in spending; this was pared down to $90 million for research and $33 million for training personnel, with a view toward requiring the 361 U.S. seaports to develop antiterrorism plans and bolster security, setting new standards to make shipping containers tamperproof and to screen cargo; the Senate, however, declined to levy a fee on shippers to pay for it. Graham drew on the experience of Florida, which passed a port security bill in July 2001 aimed at narcotics.

As a former governor, Graham has kept a close eye on Florida issues. He has worked hard on restoring the Everglades, starting with returning the Kissimmee River to its natural state and culminating in the November 2000 Everglades Act, which authorized $1.4 billion toward an eventual $7.8 billion for the dozens of projects to restore the natural flow of water through the Everglades. He sought to amend the welfare reauthorization to allow health care benefits for legal immigrants. And he sought unsuccessfully to prevent oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico off Florida by allowing oil companies to exchange the value in their leases in the area for payments of fees owed the federal government for drilling elsewhere. In 2002 he intervened directly in state politics. In May 2000 Governor Jeb Bush had signed a law abolishing the Board of Regents for the 11 state universities and replacing it with a seven-member board responsible for education from kindergarten through graduate schools and vesting most power in governor-appointed boards at the 11 universities. To Graham, this was an "extreme politicization" of the state university system, which he believes needs beefing up if the state is to develop economically, and a reversal of the policy he established when as governor he vetoed abolition of the Board of Regents in 1980. The 11 state university presidents all supported the new policy, but Graham decided to put the issue on the ballot in November 2002. His Amendment 11 would establish a 14-member board of governors for the state university system, with terms overlapping the governor's term, with power to spend money, whatever the wishes of the legislature and governor and to establish state university policy, while leaving the 11 university boards in place. Amendment 11 did not get much publicity during the 2002 campaign, but Graham funded a campaign for it, and it passed 61%-39%, winning in all parts of the state. It was a victory for Graham and the Democrats against an otherwise all-triumphant Jeb Bush.

Graham's own prospects for reelection in 2004 looked good. But Graham, rotating off the Intelligence Committee but used to national attention as its chairman, said in December 2002, "I'm seriously thinking about options, including the option of running for president." Graham had already been considered for national office before, in 2000, when he was on Al Gore's short list for the vice presidency; others asked later whether he could have swung Florida safely into the Democratic column. He planned to announce on February 3, but instead had heart surgery that day; it was an operation routine these days, and he formally announced his candidacy on February 27. A Graham candidacy cast a pall over the candidacies of John Edwards, who would have another arguably moderate Southerner in the race, Joe Lieberman, who would have serious competition for fundraising and votes in Florida's Gold Coast and the members of Congress--Lieberman, Dick Gephardt, John Kerry--who had voted for the Iraq war resolution.

The prospect of a Graham presidential candidacy left many Florida politicians hungry for his Senate seat--at least seven members of the congressional delegation were mentioned as possible aspirants. Republican Congressman Mark Foley was making contacts around the state and was obviously interested in running, as was former Congressman Bill McCollum, who lost to Senator Bill Nelson in 2000. Other Republicans mentioned as possible candidates were HUD Secretary Mel Martinez; former Lieutenant Governor Frank Brogan; state Chief Financial Officer Tom Gallagher, a frequent statewide candidate; and Crist. Andy Martin, a conservative radio broadcaster in West Palm Beach, said in February 2003 he would run. On the Democratic side, Congressman Alcee Hastings said he would run if Graham didn't; in April, Miami-Dade Mayor Alex Penelas filed with the FEC to begin raising funds. But Democrats' prospects if Graham were not the candidate do not look good. In December 2002 former Democratic state Chairman Charles Whitehead said, "If Senator Graham decides to retire, the Democratic party in the state of Florida is in a pitiful condition. I don't think we can get our act together in time to run for a statewide race if he doesn't stay." The bad news for Democrats is that Florida law prohibits a candidate's name from appearing on the ballot twice. The good news for them is that Florida's deadline is not until May 2004, so that if Graham runs for president and loses in the primary he can still run for reelection; it is inconceivable that another Democrat could beat him in the primary, and probably none would try. But if another Democratic nominee, desperate to win Florida, picks Graham as his vice presidential nominee, the Republican nominee would be the favorite to pick up what otherwise would be, if Graham runs again, a safe Democratic seat.

Update: February 4, 2004
On October 6, 2003, Graham announced his withdrawal from the Democratic presidential race. "I'm leaving because I have made the judgment that I cannot be elected president of the United States of America," he said. One month later, on November 3, he further announced that he will not seek reelection to the Senate in 2004.

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DC Office
524 HSOB 20510, 202-224-3041; Fax: 202-224-2237; Web site: www.graham.senate.gov

State Offices
Miami, 305-536-7293; Tallahassee,850-907-1100; Tampa,813-228-2476.

Committees

• Energy & Natural Resources: Energy (RMM); National Parks; Water & Power.
• Environment & Public Works: Fisheries, Wildlife & Water (RMM); Transportation & Infrastructure.
• Finance: Health Care; International Trade; Long-Term Growth & Debt Reduction (RMM).
• Veterans' Affairs (RMM).

Group Ratings (More Info)
	ADA	ACLU	AFS	LCV	CON	ITIC	NTU	COC	ACU	NTLC	CHC
2002	75	60	88	59	95	62	24	60	20	6	--
2001	100	--	100	75	--	--	8	36	16	--	0

National Journal Ratings (More Info)
	2001 LIB	--	2001 CONS		2002 LIB	--	2002 CONS
Economic	74%	--	23%		73%	--	20%
Social	70%	--	20%		50%	--	48%
Foreign	61%	--	27%		58%	--	41%
For National Journal's complete 2002 Vote Ratings, as well as previous ratings dating back to 1995, please click here.

Key Votes Of The 107th Congress (More Info)
1. Approve Bush Tax Cuts N 2. Expand Patients' Rights Y 3. Campaign Finance Reform Y 4. Permit ANWR Development N 5. Confirm Ashcroft as AG N 6. Bar Gays in the Boy Scouts N		7. $ for Hate Crime Prosecution Y  8. Overseas Military Abortions Y  9. Bar Coop. with Intl. Court Y 10. Trade Promotion Authority Y 11. Authorize Force in Iraq N 12. Homeland Sec. Dept. Union Y

Election Results (More Info)
	Candidate	Total Votes	Percent	Expenditures
1998 general	Bob Graham (D)	2,436,402	62%	$5,094,581
	Charlie Crist (R)	1,463,749	38%	$1,487,498
1998 primary	Bob Graham (D)	unopposed
1992 general	Bob Graham (D)	3,245,565	65%	$3,318,473
	Bill Grant (R)	1,716,505	35%	$242,251
Prior winning percentages: 1986 (55%)