As voters look forward to a crowded field of candidates contending to be the Republican nominee in the 2016 presidential election, it appears South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham will be counted among those seeking to reach the promised land.
Graham is fresh off a successful re-election campaign in the U.S. Senate, but winning a presidential election is a much different challenge. Does Graham have a broad enough appeal to sway the traditional conservative base within the Republican Party and appeal to independent voters outside the party?
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Here are what five leading pundits had to say about Graham's chances in 2016:
1. Washington Post opinion columnist Jennifer Rubin has characterized Graham as a bridge builder going into 2015. Rubin sees Graham as someone who can forge veto-proof bipartisan majorities on several critical issues and check some of President Barack Obama's worst instincts.
2. Weekly Standard senior writer Stephen F. Hayes sees Graham as a candidate who will take the fight to terrorist breeding grounds like Syria and Iran and be tough on national security — a hawk who is in the same mold as 2004 Republican nominee John McCain.
Not all conservatives are thrilled by the idea of Graham making a bid for the White House.
3. Daniel Larison, senior editor at The American Conservative, wrote that a Graham presidential campaign would be a "toxic cocktail of hard-line foreign policy and 'centrist' immigration views."
Liberal pundits aren't embracing a Graham ticket out of the GOP either.
4. Steve Benen, a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show" on MSNBC, skewered Graham in a recent blog post for jokingly telling a private gathering that white men belonging to male-only clubs will fare great during his presidency.
5. "The Daily Show" greeted the idea of Graham running for president with mock enthusiasm on a recent episode.
Host Jon Stewart summed up the whole idea — after having a small band celebrate the news behind him — by calling Graham delusional.
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