Lindsey Graham's super PAC protests his exclusion from Republican debate with ad
The super PAC supporting Lindsey Graham is running an ad protesting the fact that he is being excluded from Tuesday night's Fox Business Republican debate by pointing to his status as a veteran.
"On the eve of Veterans' Day, Republicans gather to debate the important issues facing our great nation. Yet the only veteran in the field has been silenced," a narrator says over images from Graham's years in the Air Force. The narrator says he is a retired air force colonel, expert in national security, and "the only candidate with a realistic plan to destroy [the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria]."
The ad will air in Wisconsin, Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and on Fox News Channel, Fox Business Network, MSNBC and CNN.
Graham was bumped from the debate entirely because he did not receive an average of one percent in four polls from Fox News, Quinnipiac, Investor's Business Daily and the Wall Street Journal/NBC News. Andrew King, the executive director for the Security Is Strength PAC supporting Graham, said that the WSJ/NBC poll didn't even include Graham's name.
"While national polling is flawed relative to Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina to begin with, the criterion used was unfair and skewed to the frontrunners. Senator Graham brings a critical voice to this race and for Fox Business Network to silence him is a disservice to all veterans," King said.
Instead of debating Tuesday night, Graham will be offering commentary through Sidewire, a social platform where select "newsmakers" can offer commentary.
CBS News' Sopan Deb contributed to this report.