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Sen. Lindsey Graham may be under fire from conservatives back home in South Carolina. But the Republican got a personal assurance from President Obama yesterday that the White House is supporting his efforts to craft a sweeping Senate energy and global warming bill. “The president told me personally he was very open, that nuclear power would be part of the mix, that clean coal would be part of the mix, that he’s for offshore drilling in a responsible way,” Graham said today in describing his Oval Office meeting with Obama. “But we have to have a price on carbon,...

WASHINGTON (CNN) - An energy advocacy group is launching another television ad in South Carolina taking aim at Sen. Lindsey Graham for his support of energy legislation that would include a cap-and-trade program. The 30-second spot is the latest salvo in an ongoing campaign against the Republican by the American Energy Alliance, a group funded in part by oil and gas companies that has spent roughly $375,000 over the last month knocking Graham on South Carolina's radio and TV airwaves. The newest ad comes one week after Graham was censured by the Charleston County Republican Party for supporting the legislation,...

CLEMSON — While political supporters of Sen. Lindsey Graham continue to be widespread, the criticism he’s facing now may only get worse down the line, especially in 2014 when he’s up for re-election. David Woodard, a political scientist at Clemson University, said times now are different, and voters aren’t crazy about moderates. “Moderates generally don’t do well in S.C.,” Woodard said. “The electorate here likes people who are more ideological and willing to ‘take a stand.’ Look at Jim DeMint, he is waltzing to re-election without any opponent, and is likely to win overwhelmingly. He is perceived as ‘strong’ while...

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who led an effort last week to prevent the Obama Administration from doing just what it did today in directing prosecution of the alleged Sept. 11 plotters into federal court, says he's keeping mum about that decision for now at the request of the White House. "I have been asked by the White House to withhold comment about today’s Guantanamo decision until I can meet face-to-face with the President after he returns from Asia," Graham said in a statement released by his office. "As our Commander in Chief, I will honor his request. I look forward...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is pushing back against home-state conservative critics who have sought to censure the independent-minded lawmaker, arguing that he will not allow the criticism to block his efforts to find common ground with others in the Senate. The Charleston County Republican Party this week formally censured Graham over his repeated efforts to work across the aisle on the economy, climate change and immigration. The county party also asked the state party to rescind a resolution commending Graham. Graham spokesman Kevin Bishop issued a statement defending the Senator’s legislative work and his track record on conservative issues. “Senator...

CHARLESTON, S.C. – Republican leaders in a South Carolina county have censured their own U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham for working with Democrats on a climate bill and other legislation. The Republican has often worked with Democrats in Congress, but Charleston County Chairwoman Lin Bennett says his work on climate legislation is the last straw. The party resolution passed Monday says Graham has weakened the Republican brand. Bennett expects a similar resolution to be introduced at the state GOP convention next year.

WASHINGTON — When it comes to combating global warming, Sen. Lindsey Graham is right where he loves to be — ahead of the curve, in the mix on a major issue, at the table for high-level, bipartisan talks behind closed doors. Graham, a South Carolina Republican, is working with Democratic Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut to craft a climate change bill. They face the dual challenge of overcoming widespread GOP opposition and withstanding relentless attacks by Big Oil and allied energy interests. "Our goal is to create a vision that not only will...

WASHINGTON -- House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn, D-S.C., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., both sons of the segregated South, grew up in parts of South Carolina that were much farther apart than the mere 175 miles between them. Thursday, the two men - a black Democrat and a white Republican - will share an honor that the Jim Crow laws of their youth would have prohibited. The Columbia Urban League will present to Clyburn and Graham its annual Whitney M. Young Award in recognition of their efforts to advance race relations in South Carolina.

Earlier this month, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) stirred up a tempest when they announced that they could overcome their political differences and agree on the critical need for a national policy that addresses the threat of climate change and moves the United States toward energy independence. Since the publication of their opinion piece, “Yes We Can (Pass Climate Change Legislation)” in the New York Times, pundits and policy experts alike have declared the Senators’ announcement a “game-changer” and possible tipping point that could lead to the passage of a bipartisan climate change bill — maybe even...

When it comes to the thorny issue of Guantanamo, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is the closest thing President Barack Obama has to an ally on the Republican side of the aisle. But with the White House’s drive for Congressional approval to close the prison stalled for nearly six months now, Graham is sounding increasingly restless and is even opening a battle with the administration that could be politically damaging to Democrats. “I’m a bit frustrated. The interaction I was hoping for has kind of come to a standstill,” Graham complained in an interview with POLITICO. “Some of the things being...

THE promise of immigration reform benefiting the undocumented Irish in America took a quiet but very important step forward in Washington, D.C. last week with a pivotal meeting between Republican Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, Ciaran Staunton, president of the Irish Lobby for Immigration Reform (ILIR) and South Carolina Ancient Order of Hibernians board member Jim Lawracy. The meeting, also attended by ILIR consultant Bruce Morrison, discussed immigration reform proposals and their impact on the Irish American community. Graham was very interested to learn of the Irish dimension to the immigration reform debate and urged Irish and Irish American...

(snip) U.S. leadership is crucial. That is why I am encouraged by the spirit of compromise shown in the bipartisan initiative announced last week by John Kerry and Lindsey Graham. Here was a pair of U.S. senators — one Republican, the other Democratic — coming together to bridge their parties’ differences to address climate change in a spirit of genuine give-and-take. We cannot afford another period where the United States stands on the sidelines. An engaged United States can lead the world to seal a deal to combat climate change in Copenhagen. An indecisive or insufficiently engaged United States will...

Some say U.S. senator should focus on emphasizing his conservative record. BY BEN SZOBODY The shouts of "traitor" that rained on Republican U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham last week at a local town hall meeting revealed rifts among conservatives that some analysts say might signal trouble for center-right politicians such as Graham. Political experts say a burgeoning group of right-wing activists long seen as the fringe of the party is growing in influence, fueled by economic fears and populist ire over unchecked Washington spending and magnified by the power of the Internet. Whether they represent a vocal minority or the seeds...

President Obama gave a nod yesterday to a budding bipartisan Senate effort on energy and climate legislation during a New Orleans town hall meeting where he also pledged to push for the bill's passage once Congress finishes its work on health care. "What I think we need to do is increase our domestic energy production," Obama said in response to a question about environmental policy from an audience member. "I'm in favor of finding environmentally sound ways to tap our oil and our natural gas." Obama also mentioned his support for nuclear energy, one of two key points of possible...

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a longtime friend and ally of Sen. John McCain, is now going a step further, Democrats say, and actually becoming the new McCain. Senior members of the majority party say the South Carolina Republican has displaced his Arizona mentor as the dealmaker on two big agenda items of the Obama administration: climate change and immigration. As McCain, on the heels of his presidential election defeat, has distanced himself from Democrats, Graham has moved in to fill the vacuum.

Although Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) vowed this week to introduce comprehensive immigration reform next month, his Senate counterparts expected to take the lead on the issue aren’t heeding a similar timeline. “That’s new to me,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said of Gutierrez’s announcement, made Tuesday at an immigration rally on Capitol Hill. “I’ve been talking to Sen. Schumer, and we hope to get something done that’s comprehensive,” Graham added. “We just don’t know when yet.”Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who chairs the Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security, has been meeting periodically with Graham to discuss ideas on immigration,...

Periodically, a Republican senator is seized with desire to be the front man for the Democrats' latest regulatory monstrosity in Washington. Sen. Lindsay Graham of South Carolina is now in the throes of this pathological urge, which usually appears just when defeat seems imminent for a big-government scheme like the Waxman-Markey cap-and-trade energy bill. Democrats and their liberal buddies in the mainstream media need only whisper the magic word "bipartisanship" and soon enough along comes a gullible GOPer to take the bait. Graham made clear in a Sunday New York Times op-ed written with Sen. John Kerry, D-MA, that he...

Those angry town hall meetings are back. Last night, at a forum at Furman University, South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham was pilloried by protesters for his decision to back Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, and for his support for climate change legislation. During the 75-minute event, one man told Graham he had “betrayed” conservatism and made a “pact with the devil” by working with Democrats, and asked when the senator planned to change parties. . . . . . Maybe what really ticked off the conservatives was when Graham argued that the problem should be addressed as soon as...

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) - Efforts by U.S. Senate Democrats to persuade Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., to endorse their climate legislation may take a bit longer. Democrats have spent months reaching out to McCain through Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., and Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn. The outreach appeared likely to step up after McCain's friend, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., over the weekend became the first Republican this year to sign on to a bipartisan climate-change plan.

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) had some frank words for constituents who attended a town hall meeting Monday in Greenville: "chill out." According to The State, the centrist Republican lawmaker used the slang phrase repeatedly in response to combative and often accusatory comments made by audience members, most of whom represented far-right viewpoints. Attendees shouted, jeered, and waved anti-government signs at the senator throughout the meeting, but Graham was unperturbed. After explaining that bipartisan compromise is a crucial part of the political process, Graham finished by saying, "If you don't like it, you can leave."

(CNN) – South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham has always enjoyed a little back-and-forth with belligerent audiences. He was at it again on Monday night as he faced down an angry town hall crowd in Greenville packed with libertarians and Tea Party activists who accused at the Republican senator of ditching conservative principles by working with Democrats on issues like climate change and voting to send Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court. But Graham stressed a mantra he's repeated many times since his friend John McCain lost the presidential election last November — that the GOP must reach out to different...

The surprise endorsement of climate-change legislation by a leading Senate Republican has jump-started the languishing proposal but also has raised the prospect that it will include two major items that environmentalists dislike: more nuclear power and more offshore oil drilling. In an op-ed published Sunday, Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina joined with Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, the chamber's leading Democratic advocate of climate legislation, to promote a bipartisan plan to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. They proposed a compromise that reduces U.S. carbon-dioxide emissions - which are widely considered to contribute to climate change - through a market-based "cap and...

Sen. Lindsey Graham spent his summer testing out lines on global warming. As the Republican hit the town halls in South Carolina, a state with a major military presence and one of the country's highest unemployment rates, Graham would ask people if they thought climate change was a problem. Few did. But Graham quickly followed with another question, asking for a show of hands from those concerned about energy security. The response was strong, and Graham wasted little time making the connection. "You can't look at it in isolation," Graham said in an interview last week. "I'm trying to say,...

... [W]e have come together to put forward proposals that address legitimate concerns among Democrats and Republicans and the other constituencies with stakes in this legislation. We’re looking for a new beginning, informed by the work of our colleagues and legislation that is already before Congress. First, we agree that climate change is real and threatens our economy and national security. That is why we are advocating aggressive reductions in our emissions of the carbon gases that cause climate change. We will minimize the impact on major emitters through a market-based system that will provide both flexibility and time for...

A top Senate Republican on Sunday announced his support for sweeping climate change legislation, disputing the "conventional wisdom" that says Congress simply cannot tackle the issue this year. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., co-authored an op-ed with Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in The New York Times calling for action on legislation. Kerry rolled out a Senate climate change bill alongside Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., late last month. A Graham aide said Sunday that the South Carolina Republican was not explicitly endorsing that bill, but stands ready to work with Kerry toward some version of legislation to combat global warming. Though even...

Can Congress drill its way to legislation to cut greenhouse gas emissions? Perhaps, says Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who believes there is public support for both reducing reliance on energy imports and curbing carbon dioxide emissions. "If you married these two ideas up, I think you could get 60 votes, but that means give and take," Graham said yesterday."My hope is that if you marry these two ideas up you would get the votes for a reasonable climate change proposal, that's blocked now, and you would be able to become energy independent, that's blocked now," Graham added. "Both ideas run...

Sen. Lindsey Graham , the Republican senator from South Carolina who helped Sen. John McCain of Arizona campaign for president, has a suggestion for some of the more radical elements of his own party challenging President Barack Obama: "I'm here to tell you that those who think the president was not born in Hawaii are crazy," Graham said at a "First Draft of History'' conference sponsored by The Atlantic, The Aspen Institute and the Newseum in Washington.

Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham Thursday blamed the lack of civility in today's political discourse on voters' willingness to send confrontational representatives to Washington as well as the 24-hour news cycle, talk radio and organizations like MoveOn.org. "Can you imagine writing the Constitution today?" Graham said during a conversation with Jeffrey Goldberg at The First Draft of History, a conference in Washington, D.C. produced by The Atlantic, the Newseum and The Aspen Institute. He speculated that Fox News host Bill O'Reilly would complain that "Ben Franklin [is] giving in on something." Asked what he thinks of another Fox News personality, Glenn...

FLORENCE—Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., said Friday the Afghan government has failed to provide services for its citizens, allowing a Taliban resurgence and a need for more U.S. troops. Graham, who serves on the Armed Services Committee, said more forces to keep the Taliban from taking over part of the country. “I will support the recommedation to send more troops,“ Graham said this morning during a town hall meeting of about 150 people at Francis Marion University. “I will support President Obama if he decides to commit troops. I do not want to make this a partisan issue like they (Democrats)...

FLORENCE, SC (WMBF) - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is hosting a town hall meeting in Florence on Friday. The meeting will be at 9 a.m. Sept. 25 at the Smith University Center at Francis Marion University. Graham (R-SC) will take questions from the audience. Doors open at 8:30 a.m. and the public is invited to attend.

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Whatever your philosophy, there was something for almost everyone in Sen. Lindsey Graham’s performance Sunday at a town hall meeting at the University of South Carolina that drew more than 350. “I’m a free-market guy with a heart,” said Graham, a South Carolina Republican serving his second term in the Senate. Graham — using simple language and folksy stories about his upbringing, in which government handouts helped his struggling family — explained for almost two hours his complex political views on equally complex political issues.

(snip) Wilson's outburst made him instantaneously famous — a scourge to many, a hero to some. Wilson's congressional Web site crashed and hundreds of calls started flooding into his office. Other Republicans criticized Wilson, a onetime aide to the late Sen. Strom Thurmond who also served in the South Carolina General Assembly before he was elected to Congress in 2001. Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican, scolded Wilson without mentioning him by name. "Our nation's president deserves to be treated with respect," Graham said. "It was an inappropriate remark, and I am glad an apology has been made."(snip)

CLEMSON — U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who has earned a reputation for reaching across the aisle with Democratic colleagues on various issues, said President Barack Obama and the Democratic controlled Congress should adhere to that same bipartisanship concerning health care. “There will be some in the Democratic Party that will want to do it alone and that would be a mistake,” Graham said during a speech at the Clemson Rotary Club’s weekly Monday meeting. “Health care is one-sixth of our economy, and this needs to be passed with support from both (Houses).” Graham said both parties should collaborate on...

CLEMSON — U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham said Monday that he would never support a government-run public health insurance option and hoped President Obama would seek a bipartisan plan that included tort reform and insurance reform. He said he supports an individual tax credit for health care. An employer option could remain, but he said he believes the individual credit would provide more cost savings. “The idea of a public (health care) option … will never get my vote,” Graham said. Graham, a Republican from South Carolina, spoke to members and guests of the Rotary Club of Clemson at the Ramada...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is working behind the scenes to help Democrats craft a new version of former President Bush's immigration reform bill. Graham also supported the Bush/Kennedy/McCain bill back in 2007. As The Wall Street Journal reports: Wes Hickman, a spokesman for Mr. Graham, said in a statement that "Senator Graham is ready and willing to play a key role in immigration reform. He intends to work with many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle." The new bill will most likely be introduced in September by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Graham has been working with...

Wes Hickman, a spokesman for Mr. Graham, said in a statement that "Senator Graham is ready and willing to play a key role in immigration reform. He intends to work with many of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle."

Sen. Lindsey Graham was the sole Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee to vote in favor of Sonia Sotomayor. A few days later, he co-signed an op-ed in The Washington Post with six Senate Democrats and four other Senate Republicans that began, "We refuse to let partisanship kill health reform." If there's a deal to be made on health care, he'll probably be at the center of it. Graham (S.C.) spoke with The Post's Ezra Klein about reform, the pitfalls of bipartisanship and the difference between buying a car and having a heart attack.

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Sen. John McCain (L) talking to Sen. Lindsey Graham during a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Washington, July 7.

(snip) As for the current healthcare debate, Sen. Graham opposes socialized medicine. "A government option will destroy private sector competition over time. No one in private healthcare business in south Carolina can compete against the federal government," said Sen. Graham. On one hand, President Barack Obama is pushing a public plan where uninsured Americans could get affordable healthcare, but it wouldn't be mandatory. On the other hand, Sen. Graham says costs would mount, wait times would increase, and quality of care would decrease, so he's supporting another idea. "I do believe we need to come up with a new system....

GREGORY: ...the potential of revisiting a second stimulus come the fall. Do you think that’s appropriate? GRAHAM: Yes, I think we should revisit it and make sure that it’s focused on jobs, not adding to the debt. If you had another vote in the Senate or the House, I think it would be redone, it would be more focused on job creation, because it clearly has not helped jobs, has added to the debt, and I think it just missed its mark. So I’d love to revisit it.(snip) GRAHAM: I can be a leader on an issue, quite frankly. I...

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham made a quick entrance and an even quicker exit at Monday’s Anderson Area Chamber of Commerce annual legislative luncheon. But it was his determination to get back to work, not a reluctance to speak his mind, that had him on such a tight schedule. In between his coming and going, Graham told his audience of his hopes for improvements in health care and his belief that average Americans have to make their opinions known to the people they elect. “What we get is the government we elect,” he said. “In Washington, we talk among ourselves, we...

Lindsey Graham gets combative over GOP future Posted: 10:45 AM ET From CNN Political Producer Peter Hamby (CNN) – A combative Lindsey Graham got into a sharp back-and-forth with some audience members at the South Carolina GOP convention on Saturday as he made the case for an open-tent Republican party. According to The State newspaper and video posted on YouTube, the South Carolina senator told the convention he wants to build a party that can compete in Pennsylvania and Connecticut as well as in his home state. “You’re a hypocrite!,” one man in the audience yelled. “I’m a winner, pal,”...

WASHINGTON (AP) - South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham says he doesn't think Congress should pay to close the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay until there is a more detailed plan for what to do with detainees there. A Senate panel on Thursday considered a war spending bill that would provide $50 million to the Pentagon to begin the promised closure of the facility. Graham said he would like to see a new system in place before that money is spent, including a national security court to review each detainee's status. More certainty about the detainees will make moving the...

Sen. Lindsey Graham (S.C.), an influential Republican member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has threatened to call House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) before the Senate investigation of abusive interrogation techniques used during the Bush administration. “I don’t want to retry Nancy Pelosi, that’s not my goal but if you’re going to accuse these people in the Bush administration of being evil and committing a crime, then if she was told about [interrogation tactics] I want to know what she was told,” Graham said during a break in a hearing on Bush-era interrogation practices. Graham spoke to reporters during a Judiciary...

Key lawmakers from both parties have held tentative talks about overhauling the Social Security system, and Congress could turn its attention to the federal retirement program as soon as this fall if a bipartisan concensus emerges, House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer said yesterday. "I am hopeful. It's a tough issue," Hoyer (D-Md.) said in an interview. . . . . So far, Democrats have found a willing partner in the Senate, where Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) has stated his desire to work with President Obama to make changes to keep Social Security solvent. . . . . Graham...

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Prosecuting former Bush administration officials for signing off on harsh interrogation techniques would be a “legal nightmare,” for the nation that could do lasting damage to national security, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham told Fox News Thursday. Moreover, members of Congress who were kept informed of the techniques at the time they were being used could, in theory, also be subject to prosecution, said Graham, R-S.C., who also is a JAG colonel in the U.S. Air Force Reserves. “Any member of Congress who was read into this program are in the same boat as the (Bush) lawyers,’’ Graham said. “Then you’re...

HANOI (AFP) — Vietnam and other United Nations Security Council members should take a strong stand against North Korea's missile programme, a visiting US senator said Tuesday. Republican Lindsey Graham made the comment after Pyongyang hailed its weekend rocket launch as a victory that put a satellite into orbit, but the United States and its allies say the satellite never made it into space and Sunday's launch was really a ballistic missile test that failed. "Vietnam sits on the Security Council and we would urge Vietnam along with China and all members of the Security Council to take a strong...