Jeb Bush Picks Up Endorsement From Lindsey Graham

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Friday claimed the endorsement of former rival Lindsey Graham, the hawkish SC senator.

Friday in the 2016 Republican presidential primary.

“His endorsement is very meaningful and along with it come a lot of friends and supporters of his”, Bush said on FOX News earlier today.

Graham said Trump’s proposed ban on Muslims entering the United States would complicate efforts to gain support from governments in the Middle East. At the debate, Bush had said Trump’s idea was flawed and that a Muslim alliance was vital.

Bush now stands at fifth place in SC with 8.5% support, according to the RealClearPolitics polling average.

Still, it is not immediately clear how much influence Graham’s endorsement could hold in the Republican race, which has seen a sharp divide between political outsiders such as Trump and other so-called establishment candidates, including Bush.

Graham’s endorsement comes after Bush picked up the support of dozens of Graham loyalists. Poppy Bush croaked Bob Dole there in 1988 (after finishing third in Iowa and then mortally wounding Dole in New Hampshire by brandishing a no-tax-increase pledge). On the morning Graham dropped out, Bush texted him immediately and later made a hard pitch over the phone – that he was best equipped on Graham’s top issue of national security.

Bush seemed to be aware of how critical the looming primaries could be for his flagging campaign, though last month he told Iowa Public Television he was optimistic.

Republican front-runner Donald Trump is keeping up his attack of rival Ted Cruz, calling his conduct at the Republican debate “strident” and labeling his remarks about “New York values” in the GOP debate… Marco Rubio, as “great on national security” and predicted Florida’s junior senator “will be president one day”.

Cruz argues that because his mother is American, he became a US citizen at birth.