Lindsey Graham: Center-right candidacy can prevail in presidential race
By Susan Ferrechio | February 1, 2015 | 5:00 am
Potential presidential contender Lindsey Graham thinks he can appeal to typically right-skewed Republican presidential primary voters, despite non-conservative views on immigration, climate change and federal spending.
Graham, a Republican senator representing South Carolina, is serious about his recently declared interest in entering the already packed 2016 GOP field, even while the move has left the political punditry puzzled.
On Thursday, Graham announced the launch of a formal exploratory committee, “Security through Strength,” to determine, he said, if he can enter the race with a viable campaign.
Graham last week began selling his candidacy on Capitol Hill, telling reporters if he enters the race, he’ll conduct a center-right campaign that will not shy away from the idea of working with Democrats to solve the nation’s problems.
“A center right candidacy can prevail in America,” Graham said to a gaggle of reporters in a Senate hallway last week.
For instance, Graham said, “You can be pro-life, you just have to be articulate and not scary about it. “
Graham likened his candidacy to driving a car down the middle of a road.
“Barack Obama ran as a centrist but he’s been in the left ditch,” Graham said. “To get American out of the left ditch, you don’t want to go into the right ditch.”
But if anyone wants to question Graham’s conservative bona fides, he said they need only look to the June 2014 GOP primary, when he handily defeated six Republican challengers.
“You can’t get more conservative than South Carolina,” Wesley Donehue, a political consultant based in Columbia, S.C., told the Washington Examiner. “Every election cycle someone comes along and says they are going to challenge Lindsey Graham, and he whips them every time.”
But a Graham presidential bid would be tough for conservatives to embrace, in part because of the primary role working with Democrats to draft and pass the 2013 Senate comprehensive immigration reform bill.
The bill would expand visas and work permits, enlarge a program for immigrant agricultural workers and provide a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million people living here illegally.
Graham has also estranged himself from conservatives by embracing the idea that climate change is man-made and must be controlled by reducing carbon emissions. He once co-authored legislation with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., that would have capped carbon emissions with a goal of an 83 percent reduction by 2050.
Graham has since revised his views on climate change, citing new, conflicting scientific evidence. But he still adheres to the notion that climate change is caused at least partly by humans and the nation should “go to a lower carbon economy.” Democrats, Graham said, are “overselling the threat,” of climate change and have proposed legislation he considers “draconian.”
But he defended his efforts to co-sponsor legislation with Democrats as he did with both the climate bill and immigration reform measure.
“Working with the other side when it makes sense is not inconsistent with being conservative,” Graham said.
Graham would also work with Democrats to restore significant federal budget cuts made to both defense and domestic spending, he said, adding that he supports both tax increases and entitlement reform to fill the budget gaps.
“The solution has to be bipartisan,” Graham said.
Graham’s expertise in foreign policy may become his biggest appeal to voters if he jumps into the race, his longtime political advisor Richard Quinn said. Graham served nearly three decades in the Air Force and retired recently with the rank of colonel. Among his Senate colleagues, he is among the most respected lawmakers on issues related to national security and foreign policy.
“I don’t think there is anyone else considering a presidential candidacy who can match the depth of Lindsey’s experience and expertise on national security and national defense,” Quinn told the Examiner. “I believe national security is going to be a key issue, if not the key issue, of the 2016 cycle.”
But a Graham candidacy may have a hard time finding a base of supporters, said pollster Ron Faucheux, President of Clarus Research Group.
There are already several potential candidates from the South, Faucheux said, including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who would pick up the support of mainstream Republicans, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who would garner Tea Party support, and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who will scoop up Christian conservative voters.
“He doesn’t have an ideological base, which is the downside of being and independent, straight-shooter,” Faucheux told the Examiner.
http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/lindsey-graham-center-right-candidacy-can-prevail-in-presidential-race/article/2559623
