Edwards-Graham ticket would frighten Republicans

USA Today ^ | 1/7/2003 | DeWayne Wickham

[jern]

Edwards-Graham ticket would frighten Republicans Of all those who have entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, or are leaning that way, Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is the only one who gives Republican political strategists the willies.

[AppyPappy]

Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is the only one who gives Republican political strategists the willies

BAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! The only person he gives the willies is his mistress.

[ConservativeDude]

"If Edwards builds such a team early in his bid for the party's nomination, it would be a preemptive strike against those Democrats who have no real chance of beating Bush."

If I had some eggs we could have ham and eggs, if I had some ham.

[xm177e2]

But would a "double-bubba" ticket isolate northern blacks, causing Democrats to lose important northern swing states?

[CholeraJoe]

Bush will select either Rice or Powell as his running mate in 2004, thereby confusing and dividing the traditionally black democratic constituency.

[Constitution Day]

indexing to *Edwards Watch...

[Corin Stormhands]

When I was visiting my in-laws over Christmas, there as an article in the Greensboro paper questioning whether Edwards would carry North Carolina.

[Doc Savage]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh NNooooooooooo, I'm so scared!
Oh please! Not that! I couldn't take it. Oooooooohh no!

[BlueLancer]

Right ... like the northeastern or California liberals would vote for a "double-bubba" ticket.

With the Greens out there, and the blacks probably fuming at Sharpton being "dissed" by the DNC, it is to laugh.

[scooby321]

this is no question EDWARDS can't carry North Carolina

[ConservativeDude]

Bush will select either Rice or Powell as his running mate in 2004, thereby confusing and dividing the traditionally black democratic constituency.

I disagree. First, he will not do that. Second, neither Rice nor Powell could pull away any of that constituency. I believe that is wishful thinking (but I would love to be wrong).

[ConservativeDude]

Hillary/Graham might be tough. Of course Graham has been mentioned now for the last five cycles....

[EllaMinnow]

If I recall correctly, it was the weirdness of Bob Graham's journals that turned even the uberweird Gore against having him for a running mete. It's mentioned in passing in this column. The column, while written with kneepads, still has lots of ammo that could be used against Graham.

© St. Petersburg Times
published June 16, 2002

---

WASHINGTON -- A reporter sidled up to U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman back in 1998 to get his thoughts on Sen. Graham.

Lieberman started throwing out bland vagaries befitting a subject he didn't want to touch. So the reporter clarified: No, not Sen. Phil Gramm from Texas; he meant Bob Graham from Florida.

Lieberman, who quickly turned effusive, made a perfectly understandable assumption at the time. Gramm, the Texas Republican, was a high-profile senator and frequent partisan bomb thrower. Florida's senior senator, while an icon in his own state, inside the beltway often came off more as an amiable technocrat rarely registering on the national radar.

Now fast forward to last Wednesday. Bob Graham is leaving a committee room that had been packed with journalists listening to him explain the Senate Democrats' Medicare prescription drug bill. Graham crafted the bill, which stands to make him a leading voice on an enormous political issue.

The senator hustles through the Capitol with a flock of reporters trying to keep up and talk to one of the most sought-after players on the biggest national issue -- homeland security. There was a time when Graham would take the card of most every reporter he met and send him a personal note. These days that's impossible with so many reporters seeking the head of the congressional panel investigating intelligence lapses prior to Sept. 11.

It took 16 years, but Bob Graham is suddenly front and center on the national stage.

His round face and Florida ties are on TV constantly. Only Lieberman and Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle have hit the Sunday talk shows this year more than Graham, according to a recent tally by Roll Call, the capitol hill newspaper.

Just a year ago, it looked to many political observers as though Bob Graham's time had passed. Three times he was reported to be a finalist for vice president, but Mike Dukakis, Bill Clinton, and Al Gore left him as a bridesmaid.
______________________________________________________________
His compulsive journal-writing ("7:15 -- 8:05 -- Kitchen -- brew coffee -- prepare and drink breakfast, chocolate Slim Fast") had been cast among Florida reporters as amusingly eccentric. As the national press weighed in on Gore's potential running mate, those journals came off as downright weird.
___________________________________________________________

So once Graham shot down talk of a another gubernatorial run, the buzz in Tallahassee was over who would succeed him in the Senate after he retired in 2004. Jeb Bush? Katherine Harris? Jim Davis?

But the 65-year-old senator these days looks nothing like a man plodding toward retirement. Even as he pushes a Florida ballot initiative to reverse Gov. Jeb Bush's reorganization of the university system, he is in the center of things in Washington.

Last year Graham reorganized his Senate staff -- not a move of a politician coasting toward the end of his last term. Colleagues say Graham, who had begun expressing frustration with life in the minority party, has shown a new energy since Sen. Jim Jeffords's conversion handed control of the Senate to the Democrats and catapulted Graham's national profile.

Graham and U.S. Rep. Porter Goss, R-Sanibel, are leading the joint House-Senate committee investigating how the terrorist attacks on America happened, and how they might be prevented in the future. The role makes him a media magnet, but also a ripe target for critics who question whether the famously low-key Graham has the necessary backbone and knowledge to challenge the intelligence agencies.

"It is clear that (Graham) does not understand the intelligence community," Melvin Goodman of the Intelligence Reform Project at the Center for International Policy told the Chicago Tribune. "He is very tentative when he talks about the CIA."

Graham shrugged off the criticism about being too close to the intelligence communities or having too superficial an understanding of the issues.

"I stand accused of both. I will be tried in the trial of public opinion, and I'll check out not guilty," said Graham, who also said he has felt no pressure from his party to go after the Bush White House's counterterrorism record.

"Our job is not to whitewash nor to scapegoat. Our job is to get all the facts and come to our own conclusions," he said.

Some Democrats see the investigation as an opportunity to hammer the White House for security and intelligence lapses, but that's not Graham's style. He's never been a particularly partisan senator, let alone someone to make big waves. Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama has been far more vocal about intelligence problems than Graham.

"He's cautious, but if you listen to what he's been saying, we're not that far off," Shelby said of Graham.

Graham's profile should rise further when the joint committee starts holding public hearings in a couple of weeks. Plenty of Democrats see his more muted rhetoric as not just typical Graham style, but smart politics.

"The Democrats, I think, make a huge mistake if they play politics with this," said U.S. Rep. Jim Davis of Tampa, who calls Graham "painfully objective."

Graham is scheduled to leave the Senate chairmanship next year. One Republican pollster in Washington suggested last week that even if he does merely a so-so job leading the committee, his national stature will grow because of his high-profile involvement in foreign affairs and intelligence.

And that, political speculators, could make him yet again a strong contender for vice presidential nominee in 2004. After all, Florida is the nation's biggest swing state, and no Democrat casts a larger shadow over Florida politics than Graham. Far from fading into retirement, Graham these days looks like a man happy to remain in the spotlight for a while.

[AppyPappy]

That's bad. The Fishwrap is a commie rag

[Williams]

Edwards will not be scaring any Republicans once they listen to him. He is all hat no horse.

[Constitution Day]

Jern & and Lee'sGhost,
I LOVED your ideas about FReeping Edwards!

jern:
"Also if you guys want to run some FReeps, I will pony up the $$$ for some Metamucil & ExLax posters so you guys can represent the 'Regular People'"

Lee'sGhost:
"if Freepers in NC want to do something to REALLY zing this guy there's a very easy way to do it. Simply get a group together and show up at the ferry dock to Figure Eight Island and a designated time.
Tell the guards that you are regular people wanting to take a look a Sen. Ex Lax's home. Make sure to invite the press. We win either way.
Either the guards will do as they are paid, and not you let you on, or they will let you but you can point out all the security, exclusive access and million dollar homes on the private island.
"Regular guy" sound bite now shot all to hell."

[Hazzardgate]

"Clark would give Edwards credibility in military affairs and could be a potential secretary of State or Defense. Holder, well regarded in Democratic circles, would be a refreshing counter to John Ashcroft, Bush's controversial attorney general"

Barfing at the thought......the horror, the horror

[NC Conservative]

His 1998 Senate election proved that Edwards knows how to court black voters,

Not real hard for a Democrat. No need to court. Just tell them your a demonrat and presto they pull the lever. Edwards will not carry NC. The women "voters" put him over the top last time. This time maybe they will use logic and see him for what he is. Ambulance chasing, baby killing, socialist thug with blinking eyelids that drive me out of my friggin mind and that accent he has which sounds fake.

[Howlin]

Even better:

Although Edwards is the best chance Democrats have of winning back the White House in 2004

ROFLMAO........really, really ROFLMAO.

[pgkdan]

His 1998 Senate election proved that Edwards knows how to court black voters,

OMG!! We're Doomed! A 'Rat has figured out how to attract the black vote...I didn't think that would ever happen. Oh the humanity...

[Howlin]

Wesley Clark? OMG.......ROFLMAO.

[rintense]

Shows what they know. Jennifer Granholm, born in Canada, can not run for a position any greater than the one she already has. The fact that Michiganders elected her still astounds me.

[Constitution Day]

I apologize in advance for the large number of pings today.
The presstitutes seem to be working overtime on Slick Jr.

FRegards,
CD

[discostu]

Hey now we all know why USA Today sucks, NewsMax "broke" this wishful thinking last week.

[hoot2]

you're exactly right.
"Edwards-Graham ticket would frighten Republicans Of all those who have entered the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, "

they do scare me tho. i wouldn't fly with either one of them,
cuz one is "very likely" to meet his demise in a plane;
opening up a "slot", for hitlery,(mrs. bill klinton)...

[muddypaws]

"w/the GREENS out there".....you could serve up GREEN eggs and ham to Conservative Dude....if you had any......

[Puddleglum]

Pipe dream... Edwards is as smarmy as a used car salesman. He just reeks of New Deal Dixiecrat. He ought to have big ole jowls and ham greasy trickling down his chin.

[hoot2]

"If I had some eggs we could have ham and eggs, if I had some ham. "

got cheese?

[dalebert]

Edwards strikes me as being too intouch with his femenine side to have a mistress.

[AppyPappy]

Yup. Hillary is definitely the sneak-in VP candidate.

[cynicom]

Not to worry. Bush sacked that racist Lott so the black vote will swing en masse to the republican side. Wont they?

[cynicom]

Not to worry. Bush sacked that racist Lott so the black vote will swing en masse to the republican side. Wont they?

[LisaFab]

the year that Bush's daddy, George H.W. Bush

At least he knows who his 'daddy' is.

[PJ-Comix]

Bob Graham sounds like a Samuel Pepys with a drawl.

[Lee'sGhost]

"But would a "double-bubba" ticket isolate northern blacks, causing Democrats to lose important northern swing states?"

Not at all -- at least 90 percent will mindless vote dimocrap no matter what.

[Geezerette]

He's got a mistress?? Tell us more! Enquiring minds sorta/kinda want to know!

Seriously, I read or heard that he is a "family man" (living in a mansion)! Yeah, right, huh?

g

[BlackRazor]

The elder Bush was a popular war president who plunged the nation deep into debt

Oh yeah! I had forgotten that we were running a surplus before the Gulf War! /sarcasm

[TankerKC]

The elder Bush was a popular war president who plunged the nation deep into debt. The younger Bush is reprising that role.

I hope that this was on the Opinion page.

[BlackRazor]

Shows what they know. Jennifer Granholm, born in Canada, can not run for a position any greater than the one she already has.

The article suggested adding Granholm only as an adviser. Not as a running mate.

[Steve_Seattle]

I'll be surprised if Edwards is not the Democratic nominee, and I will not be surprised if he is the next president. I think his only serious competition is Kerry. Daschle is too short, Gephardt has the face of an alcoholic, Lieberman is too old and whiny, Sharpton is too black and divisive and inexperienced, and I can't even remember the name of the guy in Vermont.

[robertpaulsen]

Putting up Graham as part of a "dream team" tells me that the left still hasn't gotten over the 2000 election. They'll do anything to win Florida, even if it means losing the 2004 election.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

No one is saddling him with the L word. Edwards is Bill Clinton- like he is a centrist in leftist liberals clothing.

[David Noles]

I have several problems with this fantasy article. Edwards will not never be President and is probally the easiest of the bunch for Bush to pick off. He is trial lawyer and we've all seen the cheesy commercials , nobody likes trial lawyers , especially ones who make 16 million at it. How many ambulances did he chase to make that?
Second , Edwards may be from the south but he is the kind of liberal that even John Kerry can love. He won't break through in the south with his voting record.
Concerning Fla & Graham , There is a sitting Governor down there who has the same last name asthe President who won a historical second term with a landlside against the full might of the democrap party. He's more popular than Graham.

Last , who really thinks all the democraps have to do is win just a couple of states in the south to get the white house , as if Bush is going to be sitting with the same numbers as 2000..... as if he hasn't picked up a few like NY and all the close states last time & has a huge shot in CA .

[xm177e2]

They vote Democrat, but only when they go to the polls.

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

This is truthful research

[Wphile]

The elder Bush was a popular war president who plunged the nation deep into debt. The younger Bush is reprising that role.

I got this far in the article. I'm not reading anymore.

[PJ-Comix]

So once Graham shot down talk of a another gubernatorial run, the buzz in Tallahassee was over who would succeed him in the Senate after he retired in 2004. Jeb Bush? Katherine Harris? Jim Davis?

David Osborne?

[TaRaRaBoomDeAyGoreLostToday!]

Graham is more left of the middle as well. Neither one of these guys are any challenge.

The only real challenging contender the dems could have had was JFK Jr. and he is no longer with us.

[rockinonritalin]

Journalists are such simpletons. They see superficial similarities (President Bush, war with Iraq, "good-looking" Southern Democrat) and assume everything will work out the same. The truth is that things couldn't be any different today than they were in 1991-1992. This is a fantasy passed off as analysis.

[APBaer]

Super Dave Osborne at your service!