Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said in a recent interview that he is considering a White House run in 2016 and dismissed fellow Republican Sen. Marco Rubio as “not quite ready” to be president.
“[Rubio is] a good guy, but after doing immigration with him—we don’t need another young guy not quite ready,” Graham told The Weekly Standard. “He’s no Obama by any means, but he’s so afraid of the right, and I’ve let that go.”
Graham and Rubio worked together to craft a bipartisan immigration bill that ultimately failed in 2013. Rubio, who is also considering a run in 2016, lost standing with conservatives for supporting a bill that included a pathway to citizenship for the country’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.
The Florida Republican has been working hard to win back conservative voters ever since, and has made multiple trips to early voting states.
Graham, who is expected to easily win re-election in November, has been a reliable thorn in the Obama administration’s side when it comes to foreign policy issues. He and Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., have been some of the president’s most vocal critics.
“If I get through my general election, if nobody steps up in the presidential mix, if nobody’s out there talking—me and McCain have been talking—I may just jump in to get to make these arguments,” Graham told the Standard.
-- Andrew Rafferty