Sharp wit, common touch propelled Florida political legend

∙ Former Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham, 87, died April 16 at a retirement community in Gainesville, with wife, Adele, and other family by his side.

A personal remembrance of former Florida Governor and U.S. Senator Bob Graham:It was 2 a.m. and we'd just left a Hialeah late night radio talk show where Graham had answered listener questions on what he'd do if elected governor. We were both exhausted from traveling across Florida since early the day before.

At a stoplight I noticed him staring at the bottom of the Buick's windshield. Suddenly he said, "Damn it, I told Adele (his wife) to get the car inspected."

He'd noticed the state inspection sticker had expired.He looked at me and asked, "Melsek, what do you think of these state vehicle inspections?"

I said I disliked them probably as much as a lot of people.Then it struck me, and I said, "Senator (he was a state senator then) are you going to be ending the inspection program?"Obviously annoyed with it also he looked at me and said it seemed a good idea.The next morning, I filed a story to Gannett's three Florida papers saying Graham planned to end the state's controversial vehicle inspections program if he became governor. It was a scoop. No other paper had it.Two days later at a rally in Orlando Graham announced he'd end the program. It became one of the most popular promises of his campaign.He was later elected governor and one of his first moves was ending those inspections.And that's how the state's decade of annoying vehicle inspections ended, at a Hialeah stoplight at 2 a.m. because Adele had forgotten to get the Buick inspected.

On a hot July day near downtown Fort Lauderdale Graham was on one of his workdays, a signature component of his campaign for governor. This time it was below a highway in a city sewer working with a sanitation crew.

Over on the beach his Democratic primary opponents were arriving for a debate at the Galt Ocean Mile Hotel.

As I leaned down into the hole, I could see the man who would become governor shoveling hard and fast as the crew looked on, their faces locked in wide grins.

I told him I was going over to the beach to cover the debate.

He looked up at me and, without taking a breath, commanded, "Melsek, tell the commotion by the ocean the doer is in the sewer."

Bob Graham had the quickest and sharpest wit of anyone I've ever known.

Former News-Press reporter Lee Melsek spent six months with Bob Graham covering his 1978 gubernatorial primary and general election campaign for Gannett's Florida newspapers.

This article originally appeared on Fort Myers News-Press: Sharp wit, common touch propelled Florida political legend