It's puzzling that Florida -- so valuable an electoral prize -- has failed to produce a major party nominee for either president or vice-president. Graham's moderate voting record and his potential ability to rein in Florida's electoral votes for the Democrats might quickly become more attractive to his party after the multitude of other Democratic candidates muddy and bloody themselves in Iowa and New Hampshire. Could the somewhat staid and mundane Graham start to look more statesmanlike as he waits for survivors to emerge from early state primaries, whose collective weight amounts to relatively little?
It looks like 2004 will be ripe for candidates of all stripes and ambitions to take innovative approaches in their respective races. For example, as impressive as Howard Dean's early Internet fundraising campaign has been, for political ingenuity it pales in comparison to the miraculous coup d'etat pulled off by the GOP in California. That's where the comparatively worthless Gov. Gray Davis has been recalled, and now eyes superstar Arnold Schwarzenegger waiting in the wings.
But Bob Graham is no Arnold Schwarzenegger, and George W. Bush is no Gray Davis. Bush is allegedly suffering a slide in his job approval ratings, but nothing of the order of the California governor. And the president still seems the prohibitive favorite to knock off any of the current crop of Democratic foes.
Still, it defies logic that an old pro like Bob Graham would fail to recognize the secret gold -- make that sunshine -- he holds in his pocket. A strong showing in just a handful of states similarly sunny to Florida would at least make Graham a likely Democratic nominee for vice president. Most of the remaining Democratic field will be hard-pressed to provide the party's presidential ticket with any degree of ideological balance.
Should the chance arise for Graham to run on the ticket as the vice-presidential nominee, he would face a tough choice -- stay put in the Sunshine State as one of its senators, or take a ride as second in charge of the national Democrats' sinking ship. For the moment, such issues are far in the distance. Our polling shows Graham near the bottom among current Democratic candidates. It's likely he will need a special strategy to turn that around.