With 2016 around the corner, the Republican Party of Florida (RPOF) will be hosting the Sunshine Summit in Orlando from Nov. 12-14 and the stakes will be high. The presidential hopefuls will take most of the spotlight but there’s another important race already taking shape as Rubio has said he will not run for a second Senate term. Florida Republicans Ron DeSantis, David Jolly, Carlos Lopez-Cantera and Todd Wilcox are already off and running and they will be at the Sunshine Summit trying to win support for their Senate bids.
Over the next few weeks, Sunshine State News will look at the presidential hopefuls who will be on stage at the Sunshine Summit and what is at stake as they take their messages to Republicans across Florida.
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Lindsey Graham is one of the biggest underdogs seeking the Republican presidential nomination and history is against him.
Only three sitting senators -- Warren Harding, John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama -- went straight from Capitol Hill to the White House and Graham is unlikely to be added to that small list. Graham simply doesn’t cast the shadow that three other Republican senators -- Ted Cruz, Rand Paul and Marco Rubio -- do in the race.
But when Graham takes to the stage at the Sunshine Summit on the afternoon of Nov. 13, he does have a chance to make a strong impression. More than any of the other candidates in the race, Graham has focused on international issues, mainly in the Middle East. Graham has been vocal about the need for more boots on the ground in the region, especially in the fight against Islamic State (IS) terrorism.
Sometimes Graham’s focus on international policy can be over the top. That was clear in the first round of debates where Graham, stuck in the undercard, turned almost every question back to the Middle East. But in the second undercard debate, Graham was far more relaxed and even funny in what was clearly the best moment of his campaign so far.
That performance didn’t help Graham in the polls and he failed to receive the boost Carly Fiorina did from her dominating performance in the first undercard debate. The senator from South Carolina is stuck at the bottom and could even get bumped from the latest undercard debate as his numbers continue to lag. Graham isn’t even much of a factor in his home state which holds its primary after New Hampshire has its say.
Stuck in the debates with the lower tier candidates, Graham hasn’t had much of a chance to make an impact on the race even as Rand Paul, his main opponent when it comes to international policy, is plummeting. But that can change at the Sunshine Summit as Graham can make the case for a more active policy in the Middle East and around the globe.
Graham has the chance to be one of the surprises at the Sunshine Summit, especially if he turns in a performance like he did at the second debate. While he’s far more likely to follow the path of Republican senators like Orrin Hatch and Richard Lugar, leaders in the Senate who flopped in Iowa and New Hampshire, than Harding, JFK and Obama, Graham can nudge some of the top contenders his way on foreign affairs. Graham has a chance to do just that at the Sunshine Summit.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
