TALLAHASSEE, Fla — Bob Graham sat down with the Political Connections team in 2013. Graham, who served three terms in the Senate, made an unsuccessful bid for the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination, emphasizing his opposition to the Iraq invasion.

Graham’s political career spanned five decades, beginning with his election to the Florida House of Representatives in 1966.

He won a state Senate seat in 1970 and then was elected governor in 1978. He was re-elected in 1982. Four years later, he won the first of three terms in the U.S. Senate, when he ousted incumbent Republican Paula Hawkins.

Graham remained widely popular with Florida voters — winning re-election by wide margins in 1992 and 1998 when he carried 63 of 67 counties.

But Graham got off to a shaky start as Florida’s chief executive and was dubbed “Gov. Jello” for some early indecisiveness. He shook that label through his handling of several serious crises.