Graham plays both defense and offense for Sen. McCain

As Sen. John McCain tries to shore up support within the Republican Party, one of the Arizona Republican’s closest allies is working to keep Senate Democrats from putting him in political jams as he remains away on the campaign trail.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) has long been McCain’s closest ally on Capitol Hill, having worked side by side with him on issues that have provoked a firestorm from the right — such as immigration, detainee policy and judicial nominations — as well as on policies that have been excoriated by the left, like the Iraq war.

{mosads}But Graham is moving into a new role that could give him added influence with Senate Republican leadership as he helps chart the campaign’s course: liaison between the presumptive GOP presidential nominee and his party’s congressional leaders.

In an interview with The Hill, Graham said he sees his role as an advocate for McCain’s positions, a go-between for his GOP colleagues and the campaign, and “someone who [McCain] can count on to watch his back.”

“There will be an effort by our Democratic friends to use their majority to affect presidential politics,” Graham said. “My goal is to make them pay a price for that as much as I can and to be creative to how we can counterattack.”

Some of those calculations appear to have played out this week. Democrats were looking to move quickly past a vote on Iraq policy and hold a debate on the economy — the biggest issue in the campaign and something Democrats see as a gaping hole in McCain’s record. McCain has not said how he would vote on a bill that Democrats call an answer to the nation’s housing crisis. Republicans oppose the measure because it contains a controversial bankruptcy provision that would help bail out some troubled borrowers.  

But in a surprise move, Graham and other Republicans voted to revive the war debate instead of quickly disposing with an Iraq-withdrawal amendment. The move postponed debate on the housing measure and gave Republicans the opportunity to spotlight the decrease in violence in Baghdad resulting from the troop surge that McCain staked his political future on.

Neither side is willing to admit that presidential politics had anything to do with their floor strategies. But senators from both parties acknowledge there is no way of preventing the chamber from reflecting the campaign trail since two sitting senators will face off in a presidential general election for the first time in U.S. history.

“There ain’t going to be a lot of ‘bringing us together’ between now and November,” Graham said, referring to Sen. Barack Obama’s (D-Ill.) call for unity. “There’s going to be a lot of jockeying for political advantage. It’s sad, but true.”

One of the ways that Democrats may choose to jockey is by bringing up bills that would make McCain decide whether to anger wary conservatives by burnishing his maverick reputation or turn off independent voters by standing beside President Bush. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said his party has not discussed that strategy but acknowledged that “some of the votes we take to the floor will have some impact on the presidential campaign.”

One such measure expected to hit the floor early this year would set economy-wide restrictions on industrial greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming. It puts McCain in a quandary since he is one of a small number of Republicans to call for mandatory caps on emissions.{mospagebreak}

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), a staunch conservative who regularly mocks fears about global warming, has equated such a plan to the biggest tax hike in American history.

“I think he’s dead wrong on the issue, and obviously he doesn’t agree,” said Inhofe, who added that McCain might switch course and oppose the bill awaiting floor debate.

{mosads}Other issues on which he has broken with the base, including opposing tax breaks for certain energy companies and supporting legal status for undocumented immigrants, could also revive conservatives’ wariness about McCain — something that Democrats seem to recognize.

“Any time you want to run, you’re going to have to face the reality of your rhetoric versus your record,” said Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), an Obama supporter.

But Graham said switching course on these issues would be a bigger risk for McCain.

“It would be a risk not to do it because it’s what you believe,” Graham said.

Graham knows he will have to play a key role in helping determine how to approach politically volatile measures that Democrats bring to the floor throughout the year. Earlier this month, Graham and McCain both opposed a measure that would apply the Army Field Manual to intelligence agencies, saying it would inappropriately set a one-size-fits-all approach to interrogation tactics. The manual prohibits waterboarding and other tactics considered torture.

But Democrats accused McCain of pandering to the conservative base by flip-flopping on the issue of torture, where he has repeatedly broken with his party’s leadership in the past. Still, Republicans maneuvered to allow the bill to clear Congress, a move seen as an attempt to avoid a backlash on a politically tough issue.

Graham says he’ll help McCain escape those sticky situations or throw a punch if necessary. As a case in point, he accused Obama last year of pushing an amendment to derail a carefully negotiated compromise to rewrite immigration laws.

“This amendment in the name of making the bill better means that bipartisanship doesn’t have the ‘bi’ in it,” Graham said last summer, his voice rising as he paced back and forth on the floor. “So when you’re out on the campaign trail, my friend, telling about why we can’t come together, this is why.”

Obama accused Graham of being “simply disingenuous and engaging in the sort of histrionics that is entirely inappropriate for this debate.”

The situation helps Graham make the argument that his service to McCain is much more valuable on Capitol Hill than as a running mate.

“I don’t think I bring much value to the ticket,” Graham said.