Washington, D.C.

Graham to announce political future

U.S. Sen. Bob Graham said Wednesday that he was so torn about his political future that he still couldn’t decide whether to run for re-election.

Sources said the decision, which will have a domino effect on Florida politics, could be announced Monday.

Graham ran for president this year but pulled out of the Democratic primary when it was clear he didn’t have the money and support needed to compete. He will finish his third term as a senator next year and has been weighing a fourth six-year term.

Graham acknowledged that his campaign kitty was mostly bare but said he wasn’t worried about quickly raising the millions needed for a Florida senate race.

Denver

Dean informs audience he’s ‘metrosexual’

In what is likely a first in the annals of the stump speech, leading Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean declared himself a “metrosexual” Tuesday in front of a breakfast audience in Boulder. The Denver Post reported Wednesday that Dean used the recently coined term for straight men in touch with their stylish, feminine sides after he touted his accomplishments on “equal justice” for gay and lesbian couples and told an anecdote about being called handsome by a gay man.

But then he waffled. “I’m a square,” Dean declared. “I like Wyclef Jean, and everybody thinks I’m very hip, but I am really a square, as my kids will tell you. I don’t even get to watch television. I’ve heard the term (metrosexual), but I don’t know what it means.”

Iowa

Dean, Gephardt staffers argue in Des Moines

Democrat Howard Dean’s presidential campaign complained to rival Dick Gephardt about an angry confrontation between staffers at an Iowa event.

The incident occurred during a Gephardt speech at a Des Moines senior center Tuesday. Rod Boshart, a reporter for The Gazette, of Cedar Rapids, said he heard raised voices and saw a Dean worker being escorted from the event.

In a letter to the Gephardt campaign late Tuesday, Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi said, “I urge you to find the staff member responsible and fire him, and send a strong signal to the rest of your staff that behavior of this kind will not be tolerated.”

Erik Smith, spokesman for Gephardt, said Wednesday, “this guy was belligerent, and we escorted him out.”