Lindsey Graham quits GOP race. Greek chorus exits?
Sen. Lindsey Graham has pulled the plug on his struggling presidential bid. In posted on his website Monday, he announced that he鈥檚 suspending operations immediately.听
鈥淵ou have honored me with your support. I believe we have run a campaign we can be proud of,鈥� Senator Graham said.
In some ways it鈥檚 a wonder that Graham held on as long as he did. It鈥檚 been clear for months that the hawkish South Carolinian was going nowhere. As Donald Trump sucked up all available media attention like a giant hirsute vacuum, Graham was reduced to a bit player, a foil for Trump鈥檚 gibes. By the end, he was polling at less than 1 percent .
But throughout the fall, Graham appeared to become resigned to, and even revel in, serving as a sort of one-man Greek chorus to the rest of the field. (Some call such a person the 鈥�,鈥� but we won鈥檛 be that academic.)
He鈥檇 run for president in the first place mostly to serve as an example of traditional GOP peace-through-strength hawkishness. In the end, he became the race鈥檚 meta-commentator, someone who espoused establishment positions while warning of the electoral dangers he felt inherent in Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz鈥檚 positions.
The apotheosis of this role may have come earlier this month at the Republican Jewish Coalition, where Graham gave a speech condemning Trump and Senator Cruz鈥檚 harsh rhetoric on social issues and undocumented immigrants. Such language risks handing the election to Hillary Clinton, Graham maintained.
鈥淕raham鈥檚 closing message in the final weeks听was 鈥楩or the love of God, please don鈥檛 elect Trump or Cruz,鈥櫶�澨� on Monday.
With Graham鈥檚 exit, there are now zero GOP candidates who explicitly endorse a wide-ranging overhaul of the nation鈥檚 immigration policies and who continue to insist the GOP鈥檚 future rests on an ability to reach out to Hispanics (although Jeb Bush has come close).
Sen. Rand Paul, whose noninterventionist leanings were a main reason Graham ran in the first place, is still a candidate (though given his poll numbers, he may not last much longer).
Sen. Marco Rubio perhaps picks up the mantle of most-hawkish remaining contender.听
And lastly, the race is probably now less fun. Graham鈥檚 wit and humor made the undercard debates watchable, even entertaining. Like his mentor Sen. John McCain, Graham was a favorite of journalists, who seldom meet a politician while on a campaign trip.
