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Graham builds his team for presidential campaign
By ADAM C. SMITH, Times Political Editor
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 20, 2003
Bob Graham is starting to build a competitive campaign organization for his fledgling presidential campaign.
The three-term U.S. senator is close to hiring Karl Struble, a 30-year veteran of Democratic politics, as his media consultant. He also is talking to top pollster and longtime Graham consultant Geoff Garin, though hiring Garin would be complicated because his firm does polling for NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.
Struble, whose firm helped elect 13 of the U.S. Senate's 48 sitting Democrats, would craft Graham's TV ads and help develop his campaign message.
"Coming out of the last election cycle he was one of the most successful Democratic (campaign consultants) in the country," Ron Faucheux, editor of Campaigns & Elections magazine, said of Struble.
Struble often worked with Paul Johnson, another veteran and widely respected Democratic campaign operative, who is expected to join the Graham campaign as top manager.
Meanwhile, about 24,000 Republicans across Florida this week started receiving fundraising letters from U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach, who faces a primary campaign against former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum for Graham's Senate seat.
"Florida's two Democratic senators have become increasingly hostile to President Bush's efforts to enact an economic growth plan plan to create jobs and stimulate the economy," wrote Foley, who wants to raise $10-million. "Instead, they've joined Tom Daschle and Hillary Clinton in their cynical attempt to engage in class warfare."
-- Adam C. Smith can be reached at (727) 893-8241 or adam@sptimes.com
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