Vulnerable? March 1, 2007
Posted by fitsnews in : US Politics , trackback
ROLL CALL PROFILES GRAHAM’S POTENTIAL RIGHT FLANK EXPOSURE
FITSNews - March 1, 2007 - Reporter Matthew Murray with Roll Call has an interesting story today on the brooding discontent some say is eroding U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham’s right flank.
Murray’s article, while concluding that Graham is safe for the moment, nonetheless profiles State Treasurer Thomas Ravenel and U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Wilkins as potential challengers, despite the fact neither is professing interest in a 2008 bid.
From the article:
Ravenel, who was elected treasurer in November, is a wealthy real estate developer and son of former Rep. Arthur Ravenel Jr. (R-S.C.). He ran a close third in the open-seat GOP primary that now-Sen. Jim DeMint won in 2004, and despite the loss, drew many admirers.
“When Ravenel ran for the Senate, he was a young, successful businessman,” (an unidentified) GOP operative said. “He was talking about the kind of things the presidential candidates are talking about now.”
Ravenel’s popularity among hard-core conservatives (as well as their disdain for Graham) seems apparent in Web sites like www.tomravenel.com, which encourages Republican voters to urge the treasurer to throw his hat in the Senate ring. One post reads: “How dare Lindsey Graham only vote with the GOP 95 percent of the time instead of 100 percent.”
But Ravenel already has ruled out a Senate run not just in 2008, but for the better part of the next decade.
“It’s not anything I’m considering,” Ravenel said in an interview Wednesday. “I’m here until 2010 … and I’d never consider running against Sen. Jim DeMint.”
In other words, that’s not how T-Rav is going to roll right now.
Comments»
I’ve heard T-Rav is going to run for Gov.
Along with Wilkins, Andre, Harvey Peeler, and Gresham Barrett.
Don’t forget Jim Ritchie.
Is he a viable candidate?
[...] Convention in Columbia, S.C. on Saturday. Without exception, they all wanted to know if U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham was backing off of his support for U.S. Sen. John [...]