This will surely catapult JEB! to the head of the pack!:
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) plans to endorse Jeb Bush for president on Friday.
The senator, who ran his own presidential campaign until December, is scheduled to make the endorsement official at a North Charleston press conference on Friday morning, according to the Bush campaign.
Whether the Graham endorsement can help deliver new momentum and better support in South Carolina and elsewhere remains unclear. But it will allow Bush to continue making the case that he's an experienced, steady alternative to GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
Graham launched his long-shot presidential bid last year in hopes of making foreign policy and national security a central theme of the campaign. But he never climbed out of the single digits -- even in his home state -- and left the race last month to return full-time to the U.S. Senate.
Once Graham dropped out, dozens of his South Carolina supporters and top donors quickly fell in line with Bush, leaving many to believe that the senator would eventually back the former governor. And Bush, like many other GOP presidential candidates, reached out to Graham the day he dropped out of the race in December and has been working to secure his support ever since, aides said.
David Wilkins, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada and South Carolina GOP lawmaker who is backing Bush, said ahead of the announcement on Thursday that Graham "has got a sound organization ."Many of his supporters, not all of them, but many have gone to the Bush campaign and are supporting him now. But he’s got a good organization and his endorsement would be, could be a big difference."
One Bush adviser in South Carolina, who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about campaign strategy, said that the influx of Graham support in recent weeks has been a "huge help" across the Palmetto State.
"It expands our statewide network of grassroots and grass tops across the state in terms of organizing and fundraising," the aide said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...re-top-stories_graham-bush-9am:homepage/story
Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) plans to endorse Jeb Bush for president on Friday.
The senator, who ran his own presidential campaign until December, is scheduled to make the endorsement official at a North Charleston press conference on Friday morning, according to the Bush campaign.
Whether the Graham endorsement can help deliver new momentum and better support in South Carolina and elsewhere remains unclear. But it will allow Bush to continue making the case that he's an experienced, steady alternative to GOP front-runner Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.).
Graham launched his long-shot presidential bid last year in hopes of making foreign policy and national security a central theme of the campaign. But he never climbed out of the single digits -- even in his home state -- and left the race last month to return full-time to the U.S. Senate.
Once Graham dropped out, dozens of his South Carolina supporters and top donors quickly fell in line with Bush, leaving many to believe that the senator would eventually back the former governor. And Bush, like many other GOP presidential candidates, reached out to Graham the day he dropped out of the race in December and has been working to secure his support ever since, aides said.
David Wilkins, a former U.S. ambassador to Canada and South Carolina GOP lawmaker who is backing Bush, said ahead of the announcement on Thursday that Graham "has got a sound organization ."Many of his supporters, not all of them, but many have gone to the Bush campaign and are supporting him now. But he’s got a good organization and his endorsement would be, could be a big difference."
One Bush adviser in South Carolina, who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about campaign strategy, said that the influx of Graham support in recent weeks has been a "huge help" across the Palmetto State.
"It expands our statewide network of grassroots and grass tops across the state in terms of organizing and fundraising," the aide said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...re-top-stories_graham-bush-9am:homepage/story
