South Carolina's U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, whom I have written
about
here, has a primary tomorrow against long-time South Carolina
GOP National Committeeman Buddy Witherspoon. Witherspoon has been
somewhat underfunded, and entered the race only after several other
would-be challengers met embarrassing political ends due to scandal
or controversy. People I know and like say he's a good man. At NRO,
meanwhile, John J. Miller has a more charitable take on Graham; it
is in the regular mag, available electronically to subscribers
only, I believe, but it is worth a read. Miller does note something
I left out in my column, which is that Graham was one of the
plotters who met in secret, mid-term, to try to organize a coup
against Newt Gingrich in a moment of panic when things weren't
going well. I still don't know what in the Lord's name the plotters
thought they would accomplish; nothing could be more destructive
than changing a speaker in the middle of a session. It was my
former boss, Bob Livingston, who found out about the plot and, with
Gerald Solomon, blew the whistle on it and put a stop to it.
Frankly, the plot was both underhanded and politically idiotic.
Anyway, Graham is apparently a rather heavy favorite against
Witherspoon, but the results will be interesting to watch
nonetheless.