BEDFORD, N.H. — During his first swing through New Hampshire as a likely candidate for president, Sen. Lindsey Graham was introduced Monday as “somebody you see on TV, or hear on the radio, or when you watch C-SPAN.”
“He’s ubiquitous,” said New England Council President James Brett. “He’s everywhere.”
One place Graham, a well-known voice in the Republican Party on foreign policy, has not been until recent weeks: the presidential campaign trail.
Now a likely candidate if still a distinct underdog, Graham emerged on the scene with a bang this weekend, bringing sober warnings about the Islamic State and spending on entitlements programs to stages in Iowa and New Hampshire, both key states on the path to the presidency.
At the Politics and Eggs breakfast in Bedford on Monday, a traditional early venue for would-be candidates coming through New Hampshire, Graham said the U.S. must commit ground troops to fighting the Islamic State.
“You can’t win in Iraq or Syria without an American ground component,” Graham said. “I hate to tell you, but we’ll have to go back.”
And he did not equivocate on the need to reform entitlements spending, although Graham noted that he depended on Social Security payments as a college student to care for his younger sister after both their parents passed away.
“There is no way to save our economy and our future if you don’t deal with entitlements,” Graham said. “We will blow America up ourselves.”
Josh McElveen, a political reporter for WMUR in New Hampshire, noted on Twitter that Graham’s remarks were received afterward with many iterations of “wow.”
“He’s got answers,” said Jim Adams, chairman of the group Granite State Taxpayers. “There are some that just have a lot of rhetoric. They hit all the buzzpoints, they’re very good at reading a teleprompter, but there’s nothing behind it.”
“He’ll definitely get a second look at least,” Adams added.
Graham hopped a charter flight to New Hampshire Saturday from Iowa, where his remarks at an agriculture summit were the surprise of the day, drawing big laughs from the crowd.
“I’ve enjoyed being in Iowa, but how the hell did y’all vote for Obama twice?” Graham said in one such moment of levity. “Don’t do that again.”
But Graham’s appearance was also impressive for its frankness. When asked about immigration, Graham made an impassioned case for reform that would include a pathway to citizenship for the 11 million undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. — a proposal that does not sit well with many conservatives, but which drew applause when mapped out in Iowa.
“I promise you one thing: there will never be an immigration reform bill where you get everything you want, and the other side doesn’t get anything,” Graham said. “That’s called life, and I want to get this thing fixed and behind us.”
On Monday, Graham did not substantially depart from that message, which looks to be central to his emerging stump speech, along with the foreign policy prescriptions for which he is widely known. Graham’s team believes such no-nonsense rhetoric, which Graham used successfully in his Senate re-election bid last year, will appeal in particular in New Hampshire, where Graham’s best friend John McCain won with a similar approach in 2000 and 2008.
“Chances are, if you like John McCain, you like Lindsey Graham,” said one Graham aide.
Steve Duprey, a Republican National committeeman from New Hampshire and a former senior aide on McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign, arrived at Graham’s event Monday wearing a red McCain tie, emblazoned with a Straight Talk Express pattern.
Duprey will remain neutral during the Republican primary, he said, but he praised Graham’s military background and direct rhetoric in the context of New Hampshire.
“(Graham) has got a campaign style that works here, and he’s talking about the right issues,” Duprey said. “If he puts the time in here, he can do very well.”
On Sunday, Duprey organized a “Politics and Pie” town hall, the first of its kind, in Concord, where Graham held court and answered questions for more than two hours in front of a hot fireplace.
“I literally almost caught on fire,” Graham told the crowd in Bedford on Monday. “But I guess the trial by fire is what New Hampshire’s all about. At least, it was for me.”
Duprey also hosted a dinner for Graham on Sunday in Bedford, put together by Sen. Kelly Ayotte’s district director and attended by roughly 20 New Hampshire Republican bigwigs. There, Graham spoke and answered questions for two hours more.
Presidential candidates often characterize campaigning as a slog. Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky recently said the process is “not really a lot of fun.” But by Monday morning Graham, who hopped on the campaign trail regularly with his buddy McCain in 2008, wasn’t fazed after his own first taste of the trail. He was clearly loving it.
“If this is what it’s like to run for president, it could be fun,” Graham told the audience Monday.
Before he spoke, Graham said something similar, but more committal, in conversation with an attendee. “I don’t want to leave,” Graham said when asked about his swing through the Granite State. “If this is what running for president is like, count me in.”
