Lindsey Graham Exits GOP Field
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham announced this morning he is suspending his campaign for the Republican nomination, effectively ending his campaign for the White House. Politico reports:
Lindsey Graham drops out of presidential race
South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham is suspending his presidential run, he told supporters on a conference call Monday.
His announcement came on the same day as the deadline hit for him to remove his name from the South Carolina primary ballot, a date that had been closely watched amid speculation that the low-polling Graham would want to avoid a potentially poor performance in his own state’s contest....
Graham, a well-respected voice in the Senate who easily won reelection in 2014, despite several attempts to unseat him by primary challengers, has nonetheless failed to gain traction in the presidential contest. The senator, who entered the race in part because he hoped to push foreign policy issues to the forefront on the debate stage, has repeatedly been relegated to undercard contests, where he has earned positive reviews but hardly any boost in poll numbers....
His latest RealClearPolitics national polling average is only .5 percent. In New Hampshire, the state in which Graham has made the biggest efforts, campaigning there as recently as this weekend with ally John McCain, Graham’s average is 0 percent. Graham’s exiting of the race comes just weeks before the next Republican presidential debate comes to his home state, on Jan. 14.