Graham: I've got what GOP needs in 2016
Blunt-spoken Lindsey Graham is a vocal supporter of the Iraq War, a deal-cutter on immigration and a backer of President Barack Obamaâs Supreme Court nominees. And thatâs the profile the Republican Party needs in its next presidential nominee, he says. Story Continued Below âMy party is center right,â Graham told reporters in the Capitol on Thursday. âThereâs an element of the left and the right that I donât think reflects both parties.â He added: âFor those people who believe we are not hard-ass enough on immigration â that we are losing the Hispanic vote because they think weâve gone soft on immigration â really donât understand whatâs going on in America. A center-right candidacy can prevail in America.â Graham, 59, who won a third Senate term in November, made his comments Thursday after announcing the formation of an exploratory committee, called âSecurity through Strength,â to test the waters for a potential 2016 presidential bid. The committee will be run by David Wilkins, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada under George W. Bush, along with two GOP operatives, Christian Ferry and Scott Farmer. Graham said he would talk to GOP financiers and conduct polling to see if he has a viable path to win before making an official decision by April. A close ally of Sen. John McCainâs (R-Ariz.) and one who is not afraid to take arrows from the right, Graham is viewed as a long shot to win the GOP nomination. But with the most wide-open presidential field in years â as many as two dozen potential candidates are exploring bids â Graham believes thereâs an opening for his blend of conservatism. Specifically, Graham thinks he can bill himself as a bipartisan problem-solver who can appeal to Hispanic voters. âWe have a demographic problem,â Graham said. âAnd I represent a form of conservatism that is acceptable to the reddest of red states.â Asked about aspects of his record that some conservatives consider liabilities â such as voting to confirm Supreme Court justices Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor â Graham said he thinks qualified presidential nominees should be confirmed by the Senate, a custom he thinks has increasingly been ignored in these partisan times. He noted those votes werenât a problem in 2014, when he crushed six little-known opponents to win his Senate primary. âHow could a guy win in South Carolina by 41 points who voted for Sotomayor, Kagan, embraces [the notion that] climate change is real and immigration reform is necessary?â said Graham, who noted that he is âinclined to supportâ Obamaâs attorney general pick, Loretta Lynch. âMy party is center right. â¦ I am conservative by any rational definition. Working with the other side when it makes sense is not inconsistent with being conservative. I will never concede to anyone that conservatism requires a hands-off approach to solving problems.â âBarack Obama ran as a centrist, heâs been in the left ditch,â Graham said. âTo get America out of the left ditch, you donât want to put the car in the right ditch.â McCain, who has been talking up Grahamâs presidential prospects for weeks, said he would âabsolutelyâ consider transferring his entire 2008 presidential campaign infrastructure to a potential Graham run. If Graham runs, McCain said, he would immediately endorse him. âHeâs the dark horse. And you watch him. Heâll be a lot more formidable than anyone thinks at this moment,â McCain said. âThere are many supporters of mine who are more than happy to examine his campaign.â