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Monday, Nov 9, 2009
But the most recent notebook turned out to be from Graham's days as a student at Harvard University Law School, from which he graduated in 1962. The general material "tends to peter out around 1978, when Graham became a senator," Cusick says, adding that the library collection doesn't "have any of the diaries that are the kind everybody's interested in right now."
Cusick was disappointed, saying, "Graham is very meticulous in the way he keeps notes, and I was interested to see how he thinks about things." Cusick sees Graham's journals as historical artifacts akin to the papers the library holds from other former Florida officials, like Gov. Napoleon Bonaparte Broward and Sen. David Levy Yulee.
But their level of detail has others questioning Graham about them. Asked by Stephanopoulos if he worried the diaries might make him seem "obsessive," Graham insisted that they were perfectly normal. It's a habit picked up from his dairy farmer father, Graham said, who "kept a notebook religiously as a means of recording sick cows and broken fences." Similarly, Graham says, he writes down voters' concerns and makes sure he follows up on them. No big deal, he insisted. But excerpts indicate that the diaries are a bit more complex than just a way for him to ensure that he follows up on tasks.
The log for Sept. 17, 2002, begins by noting his 6:50 a.m. wake-up call, followed by a weigh-in (181 pounds) and hair care: "6:50-7:00 Apply scalp medication." That's followed by more granular detail: "7:00-7:40 Kitchen -- brew coffee -- prepare and drink breakfast (soy, skim milk, OJ, peach, banana, blueberries), read Post, dress in gray suit."
Other matters of import quickly rear their heads, like an 8 a.m. conversation indicating that Graham staffers "have not received CIA answers to Iraq Qs" and a 12:20-12:35 review with his environmental staffers of the status of "Apalachicola River + Forest" and other issues. He has a busy day of briefings and meetings on Capitol Hill, including discussions with Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.V., CIA director George Tenet, House Select Committee on Intelligence chairman Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Sen. Dick Shelby, R-Ala., CIA congressional liaison Stan Moskowitz, and the like. Then it's back home by 8:40 p.m., where it was time to "change to blue shorts," "apply scalp medication," and, of course, "update notebook."
University of Virginia politics professor Larry Sabato minces no words, calling the notebooks "obsessive-compulsive." A spokeswoman for the Obsessive-Compulsive Foundation seems to question Sabato's diagnosis. While "one in every 40 people show signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder," she says, some of the big questions include whether Graham's "quality of life is being intruded upon or compromised in any way by all of this record keeping." Moreover, a review of the foundation's "screening test" would seemingly dispute Sabato's claim.
Graham's diaries first became part of the national conversation in 2000 when he was being discussed as a possible running mate for Vice President Al Gore. One source from the Gore campaign insists they were not even remotely a factor in the decision to select Lieberman. But another campaign source points out that Graham didn't make it to the final tier of potential veeps -- which included Lieberman and two other 2004 hopefuls, Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina -- when a more thorough vetting takes place and the diaries would more likely have emerged as an issue.
In any case, the possibility of Graham's selection brought forth a July 2000 story in Time. That story included the following Graham diary excerpts, recorded on the September 1994 day when his daughter Cissy gave birth. Graham recorded, from 12:20 p.m. to 1:20 p.m.: "Eat lunch (tuna salad). Watch Ace Ventura. 12:50: Cissy thinks she's going into labor. 1:15: Cissy preparing to leave for Baptist Hospital ... 1:30-1:45: Rewind Ace Ventura. 2:00: Adele [Graham's wife] ready to go. Drive to Baptist Hospital. 2:15: Stop at Blockbuster to return Ace Ventura."
Why would he record such obscure matters as the rewinding of a videotape? "I might ask the question, Why not?" Graham told the St. Petersburg Times. "If you spent 15 minutes rewinding Ace Ventura and returning it to Blockbuster, why not, as part of a log of what you did throughout the day, include it? For personal purposes, it's kind of nostalgic to think back to the day before Cissy had this baby, that we spent the evening together watching this movie."
On May 7, the day after Graham's official candidacy speech, the Washington Post Style section printed a mockery of the diaries. "12:17: Ascend stage, stumble, regain balance ... 12:20: Adjust tie (red, white stripes)." That morning, NBC's Katie Couric -- unaware that the Post story was a satire -- asked the candidate about the excerpts. Graham's response was essentially that those notations couldn't have been legitimate -- after all, he hadn't made his notebook entries for the day before until that morning, so there's no way the Post could have obtained them. "For me, it is a means of organization and discipline," Graham said. "And I guess my question is why more people in public office don't do this."
