Graham may receive Thurmond endorsement for seat

Sen. Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., is expected to endorse U.S. Rep. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., next week as his successor in the U.S. Senate.

Thurmond, the dean of the Senate and patriarch of the South Carolina Republican Party, is stepping down next year from a post he has held since 1954.

If Thurmond does make the endorsement, it would be a departure from past practice. He has never endorsed primary election candidates in any races.

Graham, a third-term congressman from the state's Third Congressional District, has been campaigning for the "Thurmond seat'' since early in the year. Graham is the only Republican to have announced for the Senate seat and an endorsement from Thurmond would greatly enhance his position.

"That would be a significant event in anyone's campaign and a significant event for the state,'' Graham said when asked if he would respond to "street talk'' about the endorsement.

Graham refused to comment about the rumors, but he remarked, "Sen. Thurmond was elected in 1954. I was born in 1955. For all the years of my life, he has dominated politics in this state as South Carolina's greatest statesman.''

Graham said whatever happens next week, he wants the voters to know that "I'm not trying to be Strom Thurmond. No one can be Strom Thurmond. I'm trying to be the best I can be.'' Graham, who equals Thurmond for support in Aiken County, said historians will rank the state's senior senator in the company of "other great statesmen like Wade Hampton and Jimmy Byrnes.''

While Graham has been campaigning across the state for months, the only other candidate so far is Democrat Alex Sanders of Charleston, a former judge and college president.

Thurmond's endorsement of Graham, local sources said, will be made at a $1,000 a plate dinner in Washington next Thursday night. While announcing plans for his fundraiser several weeks ago, Graham said a "major announcement'' would be made at the dinner.

Graham's "major announcement'' reference, Aiken sources said, will be Thurmond's decision to tell voters he wants them to select Graham as his successor.

A Washington source, who asked for confidentiality, agreed with the assessment, and added, "It will be a case of Thurmond telling voters 'This is who I want to leave my seat to.' It will be a strong endorsement.''

Thurmond, who will be 100 at the end of his term next year, has never endorsed candidates in either Democrat or Republican primaries but has supported local, state and national candidates in general elections.

After serving as a school teacher, track coach, school superintendent, legislator, circuit judge and World War II combat officer in the Normany invasion, Thurmond was elected governor in 1946.

He left the governorship for an Aiken law practice and four years later won the historic write-in vote to the Senate as a Democrat in a party rebellion over the right to hold a primary.

Sen. Burnet Maybank died in the interval between the 1954 June primary and November general election and the Democrat Executive Committee put state Sen. Edgar Brown's name on the ballot.

Thurmond and others demanded a primary but were rejected by party leaders. He ran as a write-in in the November elections and upset Brown, a vote that was historic in that he was the first U.S. senator ever elected on a write-in.

Thurmond, who had been warring with national Democrats for years over states' rights issues, switched to the Republican Party in 1964 and supported Barry Goldwater for the presidency.

Thurmond's change of political stripes began the resurgence of the Republican Party in the state and led to the election of a lot of Republicans to state and local offices.

Before and after his election to the Congress in 1994, Graham was a disciple of Thurmond and often quoted the senator, saying the GOP icon "always put principle above politics.''

If I lived in SC, I would vote for him as well, but his support of McCain over Bush is not comforting. Hopefully, that's just a blimp on an otherwise conservative and sensible person.....

I read once that when Strom Thurmond won his first elected office (to a school board I believe), that veterans of the civil war voted for him! Lindsay Graham has my vote.

but his support of McCain over Bush is not comforting.

Gary Bauer supported McCain for president too, but Graham and Bauer have since the election have distanced themselves from McCain.

Hopefully, that's just a blimp on an otherwise conservative and sensible person.....

A BLIMP!!!

Alas, another of my typos has been grossly critiqued....

If LG has distanced himself from McCain, then good for him. But why did he ever prefer this guy over Bush or anyone else for that matter? As for fellow Christian Gary Bauer, he would be best advised to stay in his special interest group or in Church altogether. His support for McCain, an obvious anti-Christian, is totally inexplicable. Some Christians mistakenly believe they are called to be closely involved with politics, when it's obvious by their actions (Falwell, Robertson, etc) that they should "abide in the calling for which they were called." As I said before, I WOULD vote FOR LG if I were a Palmetto State voter. But one still has to ask, what in the h--- did LG see in McCain to support him in the first place????

I think that whole McCain thing was a mistake and an embarrassment. McCain got him into hot water with his supporters, and after the primary defeat, Lindsey graham was the first one out there calling for Republicans to unite behind Bush.

I think it's best to leave the 2000 primary race in the past. I don't live in S.C.. But If I did, I'd vote for Lindsey Graham.

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