CNN: Graham bets on foreign experience in White House bid announcement

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By Alexandra Jaffe, June 1, 2015, CNN

Washington (CNN) Lindsey Graham is running for president because, he says, "the world is falling apart."

And if Americans are looking for a commander-in-chief, the South Carolina senator believes he's it.

Graham, who told CNN last month he's been "more right than wrong on foreign policy," announced his presidential bid in his hometown of Central, South Carolina, on Monday. He hopes that his track record on foreign affairs will give him the advantage in a wide-open primary fight.

"I want to be President to defeat the enemies trying to kill us, not just penalize them or criticize them or contain them, but defeat them," he said at his kickoff event.

The timing could not be better for Graham, a national security hawk announcing his candidacy on the day a key provision of the Patriot Act expired in large part because of Sen. Rand Paul, another Republican running for president. He becomes the 9th Republican to enter the field.

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