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As he heals, senator lays presidential plans
By BILL ADAIR, Times Staff Writer
WASHINGTON -- In the next two weeks, Sen. Bob Graham plans to file papers to launch his presidential campaign and begin raising money, but he will wait until mid April to make a final decision about whether to run. Advisers to the Florida Democrat said Monday that he is delaying a decision originally planned for mid March so he can be fully recovered from his Jan. 31 heart surgery. But they said Graham is healing well and is likely to become a candidate. "His frame of mind is to run," said Robin Gibson, a Lake Wales attorney and longtime friend who visited Graham in the hospital last week. "He wants to run; there's no doubt." Once he files papers with the Federal Election Commission, Graham can tap into his large Florida base of contributors. He plans to make fundraising calls at his daughter's house in the Washington suburbs while recovering. "From everything we can determine, we've done a pretty good job to deter other candidates from raising significant dollars in Florida so far," said Buddy Shorstein, Graham's closest adviser and former chief of staff. "In order to solidify that, we ought to start some fundraising so that by the time he does announce, he's got some money to do things." Graham will immediately hire a small fundraising staff and may soon pick a campaign manager. But he probably will not open a campaign headquarters until he makes a formal announcement. The decision to launch the campaign but delay the formal announcement is a family compromise for the three-term senator. Graham wanted to begin campaigning as soon as possible, but his wife, Adele, and four daughters urged him to wait until April to make sure he is fully recovered. "He's talking all about politics, and his wife and daughters are talking about recuperation," Gibson said. Another factor in Graham's decision: war with Iraq. The war is expected to begin late this month or in early March. Once it starts, Graham will have difficulty getting much news coverage. Shorstein said the new timing could work in Graham's favor because "no Democrats are going to be in the news while we're at war," but the Florida senator will be able to raise money and build a campaign organization. Graham has been talking to potential campaign staffers, including Donnie Fowler, Al Gore's former field director. Fowler, who has not committed to a campaign, met with Graham the day before the surgery. Graham's late start will require that he work harder than the others to court fundraisers, but Fowler said he's not too late. He said Graham's gubernatorial experience and Florida base make him a contender. "If the Democrats can't force George Bush to compete in some of the Southern states, meaning spend time and money, it's going to be very, very hard if not impossible to win the White House back. Bob Graham is as competitive among the Democrats for Southern votes as anybody," Fowler said. As he recuperates at his daughter's house in the Washington suburbs, Graham has been reading newspapers and watching lots of CNN, Shorstein and Gibson said. Graham also got to see a special video version of the movie Chicago. It hasn't been released on video yet, but he was given a copy by Jack Valenti, the president of the Motion Picture Association of America. Many presidential candidates open an exploratory committee before they launch their campaign, but Graham's advisers say he plans to skip that step so he'll have more flexibility in spending. Charlie Reed, a longtime adviser, said that decision "sends a very clear signal about how serious he is. That way, he doesn't want to lose any more momentum than he has." Federal election laws allow Graham to transfer contributions from his Senate campaign account -- which had about $260,000 in the last report -- to his presidential campaign. According to Paul Sanford of the Center for Responsive Politics, a nonpartisan watchdog group, those transfers are allowed as long as the original contributor has not given the maximum amount to both campaigns. But moving the money the other direction is much more difficult. If Graham does not win the presidential nomination, the rules impose many restrictions on his ability to transfer money back to his Senate account. Graham is up for re-election to the Senate in 2004 and has left open the possibility that he might seek re-election if he doesn't get the presidential nomination. -- Times staff writer Adam Smith contributed to this report.
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