Filed by KOSU News in Politics.
February 23, 2013

Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina is known as a deal maker.

In recent weeks, it seems the senator has done his best to get as much ink as possible, talking about things that do play well with the conservatives in his home state, including immigration and gun control.

Graham also held up the nomination of Chuck Hagel as defense secretary to get more answers about what happened in Benghazi, even as he admitted Hagel had nothing to do with it.

Republican senators who have shown moderate leanings have been hit with primary challenges from the right recently, and while no serious challenger has emerged yet in South Carolina, there are a whole lot of people hoping one does.

“There are some legitimate concerns to be asked about Benghazi … [and] Chuck Hagel,” says Tom Davis, Republican state senator in South Carolina. “That being said, I do think it is fair to say that there has been a conscious effort on the part of Sen. Graham to elevate his role in those debates.”

Davis says that masks votes Graham has taken that conflict with small government ideals. Graham voted for the bank bailout, once worked on climate change legislation and voted for the recent fiscal cliff deal that allowed taxes to rise on the wealthiest Americans.

“All of those things have caused individuals to wonder whether or not [Graham] is representative of the type of conservative or the type of Republican that we need in Washington, D.C. right now,” he says.

For a while, Davis was discussed as a possible primary challenger but he bowed out to focus on his agenda as a state senator.

Graham is widely praised for his constituent services, and his campaign war chest is formidable. He already has $4 million cash on hand, and that is why political consultant Chip Felkel doesn’t think Graham has much to worry about.

“He may have opposition from some corners on the right, but at the end of the day it’s going to be more talk and less walk,” Felkel says.

So far, political action committee the conservative Club for Growth, often a king-maker in Republican primaries, is still just watching South Carolina. [Copyright 2013 NPR]