(3 of 4)
Graham, 51, so confounds political labeling that his fellow apostate McCain, 70, has dubbed him "my illegitimate son." Like McCain, the presumed front runner for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008, Graham has a voting record that defies the headlines he creates. From the time he introduced his first piece of legislation in the South Carolina General Assembly, a bill barring gays and lesbians from serving in the state's National Guard, Graham has hewed to the right on social issues. He got a 96% rating from the American Conservative Union last year, and a zero from NARAL Pro-Choice America. As a House member, Graham caught the nation's attention playing corn-pone puritan as a House manager in Bill Clinton's impeachment trial. "Where I come from," Graham memorably drawled during the trial in the Senate chamber, as he described a phone call the President made to Monica Lewinsky, "you call somebody at 2:30 in the morning, you're up to no good." But in the Senate, Graham has become one of Hillary Clinton's good friends and has sponsored legislation with her to expand health benefits for reservists and members of the Guard--one of many times he has worked across the Senate aisle. Alex Sanders, the Democrat he defeated in 2002 to get the job, told TIME, "If I'd have known how Lindsey would turn out, I would have voted for him." And Dick Harpootlian, who in 2002 chaired the South Carolina Democratic Party, has gone so far as to send Graham a $1,000 campaign contribution.
As you might imagine, none of that sits particularly well with the G.O.P. establishment back home. "To say that Lindsey Graham has been a disappointment to the conservatives who were the heart and soul of his campaign would be an understatement," Republican political consultant Jeffrey Sewell wrote last week in the State, one of South Carolina's largest newspapers. "Unfortunately, our senior Senator has moved from disappointing to downright dangerous." Some Republicans are encouraging wealthy shopping-center developer Thomas Ravenel to take Graham on in the 2008 G.O.P. primary and have circulated an online petition to draft him. Ravenel--who has called Graham "the third Senator from New York"--says he has "no intention" of running against him, but that could change.
Making his own way is nothing new for Graham. He grew up in the rooms behind the Sanitary Cafe, a pool hall, bar and liquor store that his parents owned in Central, S.C. Graham's father, known as Dude, tended bar for the millworker clientele; the future Senator racked balls and answered phones. You've learned everything you really need to know about politics, Graham says, when you've had the experience of telling a wife who is on the line and looking for her husband, "He says he's not here." Graham set his sights on the military early, joining the ROTC in college, and he would have been a pilot were it not for a bad ear and dismal math scores. He had to adjust his plans again when his parents died within two years of each other while he was still in college, leaving him with a 13-year-old sister to provide for. After graduating from law school, he formally adopted her, mostly so that she would be eligible for his military benefits.