Lindsey Graham counting on veterans’ support in Iowa caucuses

DES MOINES - U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, who retired from the Air Force after 33 years, said he will rely on a band of brothers to help him to a top-tier finish in Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses.

Graham is in Iowa this weekend to participate in Sen. Joni Ernst's Roast and Ride. He's also meeting with veterans in hopes of tapping the 'go-to people” who helped National Guard member Ernst win Iowa's open U.S. Senate seat last year.

'I've got a military coalition to die for,” the South Carolina Republican said Friday during taping of Iowa Public Television's 'Iowa Press.” It can be seen at noon Sunday on Iowa Public Television, 8:30 a.m. Saturday on IPTV World and online at www.iptv.org.

His plans include organizing the Iowa National Guard veterans' community 'the best we can.”

More than that, Graham said, 'we're going to ask every Iowan to think about commander-in-chief when you vote.”

Graham was highly critical of President Barack Obama's leadership on foreign policy, especially as it relates to the Middle East and China.

He's not trying to scare anyone, Graham said, but 'President Obama's way of defending this nation has been an abject failure.”

'If America doesn't lead from the front, the world falls into chaos,” he said. 'World order is very much in chaos right now. It is literally collapsing in terms of world order.”

In the caucuses, Graham said he will appeal to a variety of Iowa Republicans.

'I'm a pro-life guy, I'm a good social conservative, I'm a problem-solving conservative,” he said. ' So I think there's a lane for me.”

He expects to be in Iowa often to work hard to earn caucus support.

The challenge is to exceed expectations, which given that he didn't register in the last Quinnipiac University Poll, may be low.

'I have to finish in the top tier,” he said. 'This is an organizational challenge. I've got to have a message, I've got to have enough money and I've got to create momentum.”

If it weren't for the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries, Graham said he wouldn't have a chance of winning the GOP nomination.

'If it were Florida, California and New York, you would pick the nominee like buying soap,” he said. In Iowa, it's a matter of being willing to 'go to birthday parties and bar mitzvahs.”

'God bless the Iowa caucuses,” Graham said.