Graham may be a better politician than Cochran (who at this point I’m sure is senile), but Graham did have two disadvantages Cochran did not which should have made him very vulnerable, especially to someone who had a solid voting record like Bright.
1) Graham was far less popular with the state GOP than Cochran was. He had been censured several times. Meanwhile, Cochran had Haley Barbour in full campaign mode and that man carries a lot of weight in Mississippi(no pun intended)
2) Graham was a much more hated and obvious target nationally. As bad as Cochran is, he’s a quiet backbencher, and Lindsey was target #1 going into primary season.
This being said, Bright did do well with the money he did have. Though I’ll say Det Bowers was a surprise, going from 1% in the polls to what he ended up with, 7%. Mace (who was obviously the most anticipated candidate going in) failed spectacularly throughout. Totally not ready for primetime.
Graham quelled those endorsements you refer too with back room deals. This was not a failing on Lee’s part. It was a good move by Graham to do this early early early on, and shows the weakness of some people you probably over estimate from sC….one in particular, who I will not mention, because he’s recently been given a huge assignment.