Posted on 06/09/2014 4:51:01 PM PDT by Resettozero
Mention Lindsey Graham’s name at a tea party rally, and the boos rain down. But despite angering some conservatives with his support for matters ranging from comprehensive immigration reform to President Obama’s nominees for the Supreme Court, the South Carolina Republican senator appears in position to cruise to a primary victory Tuesday against six challengers.
“If I had to bet the farm, I would have to bet that Graham is going to get through unscathed,” Clemson University political scientist David Woodard, a veteran GOP consultant and director of the Palmetto Poll told the Morning Line.
Graham has benefitted from a significant cash advantage, having raised more than $6 million. He was sitting on nearly $4 million late last month while none of his challengers had more than $250,000 left in the bank.
Opposition ‘deep but not wide’: Still, nine different local Republican Party groups have censured Graham in recent years. The list includes Charleston County, considered a Graham stronghold, and Greenville County, which outlined 29 actions or votes by the senator that it deemed “fundamentally inconsistent” with the principles of the South Carolina GOP.
Different dynamic from Mississippi: There are a number of reasons why Graham is likely to avoid the fate of six-term Republican Sen. Thad Cochran, who is in a fight for his political life in Mississippi. For one, Graham has spent 20 years in Congress, which is a far cry from the 42 years Cochran has served. But he also was aided by the fact that he didn’t have a single opponent like Chris McDaniel in Mississippi who was able to coalesce the anti-incumbent vote.
All of these factors combined make it likely Graham will score a clear win Tuesday, setting him up well for reelection in November.
(Excerpt) Read more at pbs.org ...
I have seen many Graham signs, but 99% of them are on the roadside. Maybe 2-3 on private lawns. Also, on social media here in SC, Graham is taking a beating. Less than 24 hours.
“My daughter lives in Charleston and can’t find any there either.”
Remember the story told at a lib cocktail party. “I don’t know anyone who voted for Reagan.”
Congress had its chance years ago and didn’t do it. We’re stuck with it forever, I think.
That was Pauline Kael, I think, film critic for the NYT.
Vote for State Senator Lee Bright. He has a solid/provable conservative record and always polls as the next in line to Lady Lindsay.
http://votesmart.org/candidate/47863/lee-bright
The poll sounds as if it’s close, but I’m not optimistic. I heard a sports radio talk show host in Columbia this morning — who makes occasional political remarks and presents himself on most issues as a conservative Republican — confidently express the opinion that Graham will win. Not that I think he’s a good prognosticator, but what’s significant is that he doesn’t even know that there’s a primary. He thinks Graham is running against liberal Republicans.
Low-information voters aren’t aware of the times Graham has undermined conservatives. They still think he’s a conservative. Recently he has been running some anti-Obama ads, and they’ll think they are voting against Obama when they vote for Graham. I hope I’m wrong, but I’ll be surprised if he doesn’t win over 50% of the votes.
Unless there is a groundswell of support for or resentment against a candidate, the one with the most money puts up the most scurrilous adds and he/she wins.
If a candidate is an incumbent, they have a further edge as they have played "Godfather" to a lot voters, helping them out with government problems they could just as well have resolved themselves, but for which the "Godfather" gets credit when they mindlessly seek his assistance, instead of using the brains God wasted on them.
We live in a plutocratic oligarchy - mainly because we keep re-electing the same serial political criminals to office.
We abandoned the form of government the Founding Fathers bequeathed to us when we ceased being a “Republic of Virtue” that feared and respected the God who made us great.
I would also. I hope that rascal Linda Graham loses and God helps South Carolina and America.
It wouldn’t surprise me that we were mentioned in the Old Testament.
If anybody doesn’t believe the hand of od protected America, they should read about George Washington and what some indians told him after the Braddock defeat, or how the American army was able to escape from Long Island to Manhattan after a terrible defeat.
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