On Monday, Senator John McCain(R-AZ) suggested that his good friend Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) should run for President in 2016. Graham was a guest on Tuesday's Hugh Hewitt Radio show and when confronted with McCain's suggestion, danced around the issue, refusing to rule out joining what is projected to be a very crowded GOP 2016 presidential field.
Hewitt: Well, I’ve got to ask you. I want to talk about ISIS primarily, but your colleague, John McCain, in Arizona, said yesterday you ought to be running for president in 2016. Have you ruled that out?
Graham: Well, I’ll tell you what I’m ruling in, and that’s getting elected as the senator from South Carolina, replacing sequestration early next year before it guts the military, and try to be a good voice for a positive agenda for Republicans in the Senate, and say no to a bunch of the bad ideas that Obama has put on the table. And we’ll see down the road what happens in terms of our party and national security. We’ve got a lot of good candidates, and the Ronald Reagan view of national security seems to be coming back pretty strong.
Hewitt: Well, that’s an open door, then, Senator, isn’t it?
Graham: I think, well, what I’m trying to tell you is that I’m running to get reelected. I’ve got a lead, and I’m taking nothing for granted, and I’m focusing on 2015. Don’t you think the party is really beginning to embrace peace through strength, a strong America makes a safer America and a safe world? I’ve been really worried for the last couple of years at the drift of the party, and that’s my main concern. So my statement wasn’t about personal ambition as much as about concern for where the party’s going. And I’m feeling better every day about that. And I think I can be a very good voice in the Senate for what we want to have happen.
Hewitt: And on that campaign debate stage when it starts going under the Priebus reforms, but I’ll leave you alone on that. I understand you’ve got to get reelected first, but that wasn’t, that was not a Shermanesque statement of not running in 2016. Let’s turn…
Graham: Well, that’s being honest. Let me tell you about running for the presidency. I’ve been with McCain twice. You’ve got to raise a ton of money, you’ve got to have an organization all over the country. You go through bursts of hell. I am nowhere near making that commitment. It’s not something I idly talk about. I know what’s required to make a serious run for the presidency. I am nowhere near there, but I am all in for being the senator from South Carolina. And hopefully, I’ll be in the majority.
Graham is seen as strong on national defense but less than conservative on other issues and might have difficulty generating a national following.
