On 2016, Lindsey Graham says he’s ‘running because’ he’d be the ‘best commander-in-chief’

ATLANTA – Sen. Lindsey Graham all but confirmed Monday that he will run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.

In an interview on “CBS This Morning,” Graham said he’d make the official announcement June 1 in his hometown of Central, South Carolina. But he also used the phrase “I’m running,” explaining that he believes he would make the best commander in chief.

Graham, a foreign policy hawk and critic of President Barack Obama’s handling of the Middle East, joins an already crowded field as an underdog.

Speaking the day after the Iraqi city of Ramadi fell to the Islamic State group, Graham told CBS that he believes more American soldiers will have to die in Iraq and Syria “to protect the homeland.”