Should we have nominated *shudder* Bob Graham?

[Comicstripper]

Think about it. We wrote him off.
But he's moderate, a former Governor/current Senator, from Florida, likable in a grampappy sort of way, Southerny, and he opposed the war from the beginning, but from a practical, mainstream point of view.
I think he would've beat Bush. I really do. I brushed him off in the primaries, but looking back....damn. Am I crazy? Could he have worked? Would he have narrowed that gap in Florida? He was a popular Governor there. What about Arkansas, or Virginia? New Mexico? Arizona? Missouri? Ohio? We had the ABB vote no matter what....
I think we goofed.

[Ducks In A Row]

1. it didn't matter who was running. the rethugs rigged from the start

[MNBiker]

18. Dick Gephardt could have won it. paint Missouri, Iowa and Ohio Blue.

[mirandaod]

2. You could be right.

I'm reading his book, and he definitely has a handle on the intel stuff, and he's making sense. We'll never know, now.

[ogradda]

3. we need to nominate someone with some guts

fuck polite, imo. this is getting ridiculous.

[Skidmore]

4. Why the shudder.

I have always had tremendous respect for this man. He has integrity and knows what he is talking about. He also has a good heart. In fact, I would have supported any one of the nominees if they had been selected as a candidate.

[Comicstripper]

11. Same here

The shudder was just that I didn't wanna get flamed, what with all this "Fuck moderates" stuff going around. Moderate doesn't mean polite or wimpy or weak. Dean's a moderate. He's not weak or wimpy. Kennedy was a moderate. Not a weakling. It just means someone who is willing to work and compromise so that everyone-rich AND poor, black AND white, ownership AND labor- all can be satisfied.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

12. I like Graham too!

[RafterMan]

20. Great common sense guy

He saw through the Iraq BS -- can't say that about the guys we actually ran.

I would have been very pleased to vote for Bob Graham. I recently read his book and my respect for him grew even more.

Also, I'm really sick of people buying into the media line that Graham is a nutty old kook. When has the media ever told the truth about anyone? If anyone is a Graham doubter, please read his book and you'll change your mind.

Graham is a good guy and deserves more respect than he gets.

[NoodleBoy]

5. He probably would have gotten VP if he hadn't run out of money so early

Part of the reason Kerry picked Edwards was name recognition, and if Graham had stayed in longer he probably would have taken alot of Edwards' thunder, except for that whole "youth" thing. heh.

Just had to add, he should have been Al Gore's VP pick in 2000.

[Spiffarino]

6. We could have nominated Christ Himself

...and they still would have stolen it.

OTOH, His daddy would probably have smitten them all for their misbehavior.

[Old and In the Way]

7. All we have to do is make our votes count.

We had the right candidates (Gore and Kerry), we had the right message/agenda. What we don't have is a democracy to make it work.

[nodehopper]

8. it DIDN'T MATTER! Diebold fix was in from the start.

What is the point of retoactive arguments about Dean vs. Kerry vs. Graham. IT DID NOT MATTER. The e-voting issue did not get addressed and that was the only real thing that mattered in this election.

[BlueInRed]

9. I actually think in a smaller field

he'd have done pretty well.

I'm like you, didn't see the rock star quality I was hoping for. But after the campaign was underway, I was thinking he'd have done as well as Kerry and also picked up some more swing states too. He's been on the intelligence / foreign relations thing forever and he wasn't afraid to tell the truth on 9-11. He also knows a lot of insiders in Fla and might have been able to avoid some of the fraud there.

The only thing I know he'd have been ridiculed for is his quirky notebook habit. But I'd have settled for quirky habits and sane policy any day.

[pmbryant]

10. He was my first choice. But in retrospect, he was not right.

He simply does not have the dynamism and charisma needed to draw attention in this day and age.

Kerry does. And some others do as well.

--Peter

[PCIntern]

13. You need to understand

that it had nothing to do with which candidate was nominated. The Rethugs don't care - we nominated a war hero for crissake and they said that he was a traitor. We nominated a thinking man who considers his positions as they evolve and they called him a flip-flopper, we nominated a rich man and they called him a profiteer and opportunist, we nominated a graduate of Yale and they called him an elitist.

You can't fucking win with these people if you play the game their way. Face it.

What you need is a guy to go on TV and have said, "Mr. President, such as you were selected, you and your gang are the biggest hypocrites in the whole crumby history of the world." Just for starters. And then quote the Kitty Kelley book as facts, this is what the Rethugs woulda done. We just don't have the balls for this business.

Sorry guys, I am a Dem to the end, but you gotta grow a pair and use them.

[On the Road]

14. I Like Graham

He was my second choice. In fact, I think the problem was he was everyone's second choice. He would have been a much better nominee than he was a candidate in the primaries.

If Graham won Florida, he probably would have won the election. Too bad.

[Miami Liberal]

15. He is a good man

very well liked in Florida but I don't think he would have done any better than Kerry.

[Comicstripper]

16. Graham/Clark 2004, maybe? nt

[Doctor_J]

17. It wouldn't have mattered

it should be crystal clear by now that the vote was fixed.

[Kahuna]

19. I originally supported Graham. When I saw that he wasn't catching..

on, I switched to Clark.

[ProudToBeBlueInRhody]

21. I supported Graham........

....he was the only guy willing to question why Saudi Arabia and our other "allies" in the mideast have gotten off scot free.........