1) Regionally
He's from Florida, wildly popular ex-Governor, popular an ex-Senator. Very popular in his home state which puts Florida back in play and helps out greatly in the south.

2) Generationally
Let's face it, those of us who are a little older tend to be distrustful at these young whippersnappers, while I am all about the reinforcement, getting somebody who has a little silver in their hair is not such a bad idea. And by the way, he's still a few months younger then McCain, I looked it up!

3) Foreign Policy
Graham is a fierce advocate of world participation and the same kind of, "we can work together without being subservient" foreign policy that appeals to so many people with Obama.

4) Judgement
The man was a very vocal opponent of the Iraq war when that was not popular. His rationale was that it would take resources away from finding Bin Laden, something that is taken as conventional wisdom now, but he was often dismissed over then. In 2004, the only people who were running for president that were AGAINST the war, were Graham, Dean and Kucinich.

The VP is a heartbeat from the presidency, if the unthinkable were to happen do we really want Sam Nunn in there, or Chuck Hagel?!?
It's not just about winning elections, it's about pushing the Overton Window to progressivism too.

5) Reform
Did you know that Bob Graham is very into the idea of Electoral Reform?
Well, he is... I suppose it makes sense when you are the ex-Governor and ex-Senator of one of the states that showed us all how badly this is needed.

6) Outsider
He may have been a Washington type once, but The man has retired from politics, and has been away from Washington long enough to have an outsider's perspective.

7) Vetted
John Kerry kept his actual shortlist very, very secret. This was cheifly because he felt dissed with the way Gore ran it in 2000, with all of the public hooplah. Something that is often forgotten is that Senator Graham was actually on Kerry's shortlist up to the last minute and indeed THEY EVEN MADE SIGNS FOR KERRY/GRAHAM '04!
(oh, how I wish I still had that picture!)
The rumor is that Gephardt was not truly in contention and was just a stalking horse. It was decided that there would be a little too much silver on that ticket though, and JRE was picked instead. Kerry trusted Graham and got along with him personally, he also cleared Senator Graham from modern day vetting. Can we say the same about Bill Richardson?

8) Issues
He has the appropriate check marks in the appropriate boxes for the single issue groups:

Choice:
    *  Voted NO on criminal penalty for harming unborn fetus during other crime. (Mar 2004)
    * Voted NO on banning partial birth abortions except for maternal life. (Mar 2003)
    * Voted NO on maintaining ban on Military Base Abortions. (Jun 2000)
    * Voted NO on banning partial birth abortions. (Oct 1999)
    * Voted NO on disallowing overseas military abortions. (May 1999)
    * Rated 100% by NARAL, indicating a pro-choice voting record. (Dec 2003)
    * Expand embryonic stem cell research. (Jun 2004)

Economy:
    *   "Opportunity For All" program is critical to economy. (Sep 2003)
    * Rescind parts of Bush tax cuts for the people. (Jun 2003)
    * Fiscal discipline avoids our grandchildren paying our bills. (May 2003)
    * Irresponsible to cut $1.2 trillion from budget now. (May 2003)
    * Voted NO on prioritizing national debt reduction below tax cuts. (Apr 2000)
    * Voted YES on 1998 GOP budget. (May 1997)
    * Voted YES on Balanced-budget constitutional amendment. (Mar 1997)
    * Balance debt reduction, tax relief, & policy investment. (Jan 2001)

Crime:
    *  Voted NO on increasing penalties for drug offenses. (Nov 1999)
    * Voted YES on spending international development funds on drug control. (Jul 1996)

Education:
    *  Fund education fully, to reduce racial inequality. (May 2003)
    * Voted YES on funding smaller classes instead of private tutors. (May 2001)
    * Voted YES on funding student testing instead of private tutors. (May 2001)
    * Voted YES on spending $448B of tax cut on education & debt reduction. (Apr 2001)
    * Voted NO on Educational Savings Accounts. (Mar 2000)
    * Voted NO on education savings accounts. (Jun 1998)
    * Voted NO on school vouchers in DC. (Sep 1997)
    * Voted NO on $75M for abstinence education. (Jul 1996)
    * Voted NO on requiring schools to allow voluntary prayer. (Jul 1994)
    * Voted YES on national education standards. (Feb 1994)
    * Firmly opposed to Bush's voucher proposal. (Jan 2001)
    * Three R's: $35B for Reinvestment,Reinvention,Responsibility. (Jan 2001)
    * More foreign languages courses and exchange students. (Feb 2001)
    * Rated 100% by the NEA, indicating pro-public education votes. (Dec 2003)

Foreign Policy:
    *  Respect of world requires world participation. (Sep 2003)
    * Voted YES on enlarging NATO to include Eastern Europe. (May 2002)
    * Voted YES on killing a bill for trade sanctions if China sells weapons. (Sep 2000)
    * Voted NO on cap foreign aid at only $12.7 billion. (Oct 1999)
    * Voted YES on limiting the President's power to impose economic sanctions. (Jul 1998)
    * Voted NO on limiting NATO expansion to only Poland, Hungary & Czech. (Apr 1998)
    * Voted YES on $17.9 billion to IMF. (Mar 1998)
    * Voted YES on Strengthening of the trade embargo against Cuba. (Mar 1996)
    * Voted YES on ending Vietnam embargo. (Jan 1994)

etc. etc.

9) Availability
I cringe every time I see a potential VP nominee that is a sitting Governor or a Senator in a red state, if possible, taking somebody where it doesn't hurt is should always be preferable, Graham fulfills this.

He doesn't even have to serve two terms, he can serve one term and then clear the way for the partys next standard bearer.
Remember the Vice Presidency hasn't always been what Cheney has made it.

Graham is personable, likeable and reinforces as well as balance.
It absolutely astounds me that Bill Nelson and Sam Nunn are constantly floated around by the media when Graham is superior to both and a much better match for Obama's brand of change.

Senator Graham is a patriot and an agent of change, and is just what the Doctor ordered for Obama.

Plus you have to love a guy that will do this:

Bob Graham's campaign trademark was to work a full, eight-hour day at various jobs which represented Florida's constituents. He began his Workdays in 1974, teaching a semester of civics at Miami Carol City Senior High School in Miami while serving in the Florida Senate. At that time, Bob Graham was on the Education Committee. After a speech, M. Sue Riley, an English teacher at Carol City, approached Bob Graham and said, "The only problem with members of the Education Committee is nobody has any experience in education." Bob Graham was taken aback at that assertion and asked, "Well, what can I do about that?" A few months later, Ms. Riley contacted Senator Graham with a proposal to teach the next semester of civics. Following that teaching experience, he performed 99 additional workdays just in time for his 1986 successful campaign for U.S. Senate. Since then, he has completed 386 workdays, more than a year's worth of days spent laboring side-by-side with his constituents. Graham has continued doing workdays throughout his tenure as governor and in the United States Senate. His jobs have included service as a police officer, busboy, railroad engineer, construction worker, fisherman, garbageman, factory worker, and teacher. On No. 365, he checked in customers, handled baggage and helped serve passengers on US Airways.

Doesn't sound like "politics as usual" does it.
talk about walking the walk!

Oh and in the "streetfight" test, here's an article with an excerpt from his book, in Sep. 2004 and keep in mind this is back when the media Heathers kept moaning over how Farenheit 911 wasn't based in fact:

Two of the Sept. 11, 2001, hijackers had a support network in the United States that included agents of the Saudi government, and the Bush administration and FBI blocked a congressional investigation into that relationship, Sen. Bob Graham wrote in a book to be released Tuesday.

The discovery of the financial backing of the two hijackers ''would draw a direct line between the terrorists and the government of Saudi Arabia, and trigger an attempted coverup by the Bush administration,'' the Florida Democrat wrote.

And in Graham's book, Intelligence Matters, obtained by The Herald Saturday, he makes clear that some details of that financial support from Saudi Arabia were in the 27 pages of the congressional inquiry's final report that were blocked from release by the administration, despite the pleas of leaders of both parties on the House and Senate intelligence committees.

Scot Lehigh of the Boston Globe agrees with me

Former senator (and governor) Bob Graham, 71, of Florida, meanwhile, merits consideration both on national security and Electoral College grounds. Although his 2004 presidential campaign flopped, Graham, former chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, is smart, well-regarded by former colleagues, and popular in the Sunshine State. His vote against the Iraq war resolution puts him in sync with Obama's early opposition to the war. If selecting him would give the Democrats a strong shot at Florida, he deserves a close look.

I'm not saying that i'm 100% sold that Senator Graham is the person, but he's quickly going from my "out of the box/longshot" pick, to somebody I would absolutely put on the shortlist if I was running the process.

So that's why I am taking this out of the comments of the Veepstakes posts and bringing together this article, to clearly and cogently state the case for Bob Graham as Vice President in the Obama administration.

We need to make our choices felt so we don't end up with somebody like Nunn.