WASHINGTON (AP) – South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham on Thursday said he has set up a committee to explore running for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, portraying himself as a proven winner and a conservative willing to work with Democrats.
Graham told reporters that the website, called, “Security Through Strength,” would give him a way to raise money. He plans to visit New Hampshire and Iowa, the first to states to vote in the nomination fight, and see if his pragmatic message resonates.
“I mean, are we going to be a party that embraces the fact that Democrats exist and you can get no big deal done without their buy-in?” said Graham, 59.
On such issues as national security and President Barack Obama’s health care law, Graham said, “If we don’t like what Obama’s offering the country, what would we offer the nation?”
Such pragmatism sounds too compromising to some conservatives who say they would stick firmly to positions favored by the party’s activist base. Graham, they point out, voted for Obama’s nominees to the Supreme Court, is likely to vote for Loretta Lynch for attorney general and helped write a comprehensive immigration overhaul bill.