“I complain a lot and also have some solutions. I’m tired of just complaining and now ready to try to lead. Whether or not there is a market for me, I won’t know until I try,” Graham told CNN in an interview.
Graham set up a new political organization on Thursday called “Security Through Strength,” which will allow him to raise money and hire a political staff as he weighs whether to officially run for president. The South Carolina Republican said he expects to make a decision by the end of April.
Graham is a conservative, but bucks his party on big issues like immigration, where he thinks there should be a path to citizenship, and climate change, which he believes is at least in partly the result of human activity.
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But Graham then got serious, and emotional, talking about the fact that McCain has been telling anyone who will listen for months he believes Graham should throw his hat in the presidential ring.
“John is a dear friend. One of the highlights in my time in politics is him, and I know he loves me dearly,” Graham said, as he tried to fight back tears. “We are truly friends, but he wouldn’t say to anybody that I should be president if he didn’t really mean it, and believe it.”
He calls McCain’s encouragement a “personal honor I will cherish,” but also says that it is “not going to carry the day for me.”
