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Graham, the son of Alan Graham who was the longest serving member of the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1967- 1998, was elected to replace his retiring father in a by-election in 1998. Following the New Brunswick general election of 1999, Graham's Liberal Party was reduced to 10 seats from 44. This gave the young politician the chance to quickly rise to prominence.

He was named the caucus chair of the party and became one of the most vocal and popular critics of the government of Bernard Lord.

Liberal leader Camille Theriault resigned in March of 20012001 is a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar), and also: The International Year of the Volunteer The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilizations Events January January 1 A black monolith measuring approximately nine feet tall ap and a leadership conventionIn Canadian politics, a leadership convention is held by a political party when the party needs to hold an election for leader due to a vacancy or a serious challenge to the incumbent leader. Unlike in the United States, where political conventions are he was set from May of 20022002 is a common year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). 2002 was the first palindromic year since 1991 and the last until 2112. 2002 was also designated: International Year of Ecotourism and Mountains National Science Year in the United Kingdom. Few candidates emerged for this campaign and it appeared that former cabinet minister Paul DuffiePaul Duffie a New Brunswick politician and lawyer. He was mayor of Grand Falls from 1986 until his election as MLA in 1987. Elected as a Liberal in the Frank McKenna landslide, Duffie continued his law practice in addition to his legislative duties. In 19 would win virtually unopposed. Graham was urged to run and eventually entered the race with the support of Greg Byrne , a previous leadership contender, and many of the supporters of Bernard RichardBernard Richard (born April 11, 1951 in Toronto, Ontario) is a lawyer and New Brunswick politician. Richard first entered politics as a young man, running unsuccessfully in Shediac for the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick as a Parti Acadien candidate, also a former leadership contender and the interim leaderAn interim leader in Canadian politics, is a party leader who is appointed by the party's legislative caucus or the party's executive to temporarily act as leader when there is a gap between the resignation or death of a party leader and the election of h following the resignation of Theriault.

Surprising many pundits, Graham was successful in taking a solid lead during delegate selection meetings in February and March of 2002 and, as a result, Duffie dropped out of the race. This left only fringe candidate Jack MacDougall in the race who Graham defeated by a 3 to 1 margin at the May convention.

Graham was considered a lightweight by pundits and by the governing Progressive Conservative Party and few gave him a chance in the coming election. Though Graham's Liberal Party of New Brunswick and the PCs were near each other in the polls, Graham was a relative unknown and trailed Premier Bernard Lord by significant margins.

Graham surprised pundits again during the New Brunswick general election of 2003, running an energetic campaign and winning 26 of 55 seats. Despite his victories, the governing Tories and the media continued to view Graham as weak. Rumours suggested that Graham was being pressured to step aside in favour of either Mike Murphy , Kelly Lamrock or Andy Savoy.

Following a by-election victory by the Liberals on October 4, 2004, Graham took a more agressive stance to dispell this believe. He named a new chief of staff and replaced a third of his staff on October 28, 2004 while pledging to defeat the government and force an election in the next session of the legislature.