Graham believes he can win SC primary

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Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on Sunday expressed confidence he could win his home state’s GOP presidential primary, if he runs for the White House in 2016. 

Graham said he is not sure if he can win the whole nomination, but said, “I’m going to give it a try.”

{mosads}”The one thing I can tell anybody in Iowa and New Hampshire and throughout the country, if I got to be president of the United States, I think I could create a pathway forward to straighten out the mess we’re in,” he said. “And we’ll see where that goes.”

South Carolina is an early nominating state, behind Iowa and New Hampshire. 

Graham said he was not going to “go there” when asked about former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s comments last week suggesting President Obama does not love the United States.

“I have no doubt that he loves his country,” he went on to say. “I have no doubt that he’s a patriot.  But his primary job as president of the United States is to defend this country, and he’s failing miserably.” 

He took a slight shot at potential candidate and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s (R) recent foreign policy speech. It did not put enough of a focus on solutions, he said. 

“I think he gave a speech consistent with sort of the traditional view of the Republican Party. But one thing we’re going to have to embrace as Republicans, it’s not just enough to criticize President Obama, what would we do differently?” he asked. 

He continued: “So at the end of the day, I want the Republican Party to talk openly about the hard things, like having boots on the ground in Syria and Iraq, American boots on the ground, as part of an international regional force to make sure we degrade and destroy [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria].”