Republican candidate Jeb Bush was endorsed by former rival Senator Lindsey Graham of SC on Friday, winning an important ally in a state where a February 20 vote could prove critical in the 2016 race for a presidential nominee.
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Pro golfer Phil Mickelson, left, talks to his amateur partner, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, during The Barclays Pro-Am golf tournament in 2012.
“It was a very successful foreign policy and one that I think one could envision a bipartisan consensus emerging around”, Jeb Bush said of his father’s approach, “and one the American people could support”.
While running for president, Graham sparred constantly and publicly with party front-runner Donald Trump, who lambasted the endorsement on Twitter. He’s doing slightly better in Graham’s home state of SC, where polling averages put him at 7.4 percent in the Republican race.
“I wasn’t ready to be president at 44”, he said of Rubio’s youth, but predicted he would be president one day. The senator added that Bush “was the most conservative person who can win”. “A guy with 0% (Graham) endorses someone with 5% (Bush)?? what kind of strategy is this? no wonder Trump is winning”. Bush said of the Gang of Eight immigration reform bill that Rubio played a major role in drafting and then later denounced, “he asked for my support”. Speaking at a news conference, Graham said he was impressed with the former Florida governor’s performance at the sixth GOP debate Thursday night.
In the televised Republican debate held on January 14th Mr Bush argued against starting the trade war with China and levying the ban on Muslims that Mr Trump advocates.
Cruz, who has been dogged by Trump about his US citizenship status, is facing a federal court challenge in his hometown of Houston.
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The rivalry between the Republican Party’s two leading candidates for president intensified in Thursday’s debate, which featured the most rollicking action to date. “Lindsey Graham is by far and away recognized as not the most, the strongest policy oriented national defense senator, not just a senator, but most consistent support of strong national defense, period over and out”, he said. I wish he were president right now! “Its not enough to criticize Barack Obama”.
