ATLANTA -- South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham all but confirmed Monday that he will run for president in 2016, saying he believes he would be the best choice to serve as commander in chief amid continued unrest in the Middle East.
"I'm running because I think the world is falling apart," Graham said in an interview on CBS This Morning.
A fierce critic of President Barack Obama's foreign and military policy, the Republican pointed to the Iraqi city of Ramadi, which recently fell to Islamic State militants, as proof that the U.S. must assert itself in the region.
"I'm afraid more American soldiers will die in Iraq and eventually in Syria to protect our homeland," he said, repeating his argument that 10,000 or more ground troops are needed to help train Iraqi security forces to serve as a functional national army.
The U.S. has about 4,200 trainers and advisers in Iraq to work with the Iraqi army.
The senator said he will make his official campaign announcement June 1 in his hometown of Central, S.C.
Graham, who is on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said the destabilization of Iraq, continued strife in Syria, Iranian influence in the region and the proliferation of the Islamic State create an atmosphere that could yield another attack on American soil.
Jindal forms panel
Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal also took a step Monday toward running for president, announcing the formation of an exploratory committee to consider a campaign and suggesting the nation needs a leader with the "ideas to change our country's future."
As he has in the past, the Republican governor said he will announce his decision after his state's legislative session ends in mid-June. In a statement, Jindal said that if he runs, his candidacy will be based on the idea that the American people "are ready to try a dramatically different direction."
Jindal, the country's first elected Indian-American governor, slammed Obama's leadership, saying the Democratic president "has started to redefine the American Dream, turning it into the European nightmare."
Christie defends tactics
Another potential GOP candidate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, offered a vigorous defense of surveillance tactics Monday, backing programs initiated since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and calling for an expansion of intelligence-gathering capabilities even as Congress seeks ways to rein in the programs.
Christie, who spent seven years as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey, said he had used provisions of the USAPATRIOT Act in pursuing terrorists after the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We need to toughen our anti-terror and surveillance laws to give our services the legal mechanisms to do their job," he said during a speech in New Hampshire. Christie slammed those pushing changes to the programs as "intellectual purists" and said law-abiding citizens had nothing to fear from the surveillance efforts.
Paul blasts NSA
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., vowed Monday to do "everything possible" to block renewal of the USAPATRIOT Act, but the presidential hopeful conceded it may not be enough.
Speaking in front of Philadelphia's Independence Hall, Paul lashed out at the National Security Agency's bulk collection of American citizens' phone records.
"We will do everything possible -- including filibustering the Patriot Act -- to stop them," Paul said, acknowledging that a filibuster likely wouldn't be enough to block the program. "They have the votes inside the Beltway. But we have the votes outside the Beltway, and we'll have that fight."
Walker probe urged
In Wisconsin, Democratic lawmakers called on federal investigators Monday to begin a probe into Republican Gov. Scott Walker's job-creation agency after a newspaper reported the organization made a loan to one of Walker's top donors five years ago.
Assembly Minority Leader Peter Barca and Sen. Julie Lassa, who are on the Wisconsin Economic Development Association's board, said they were angered by the revelations in the Wisconsin State Journal's story. The story said the agency gave Minahan's Building Committee Inc., a now-defunct construction company, an unsecured, taxpayer-funded $500,000 loan in 2011 to outfit bank and credit-union buildings for energy efficiency.
Walker, a likely 2016 presidential candidate, said Monday that he played no direct role in the loan and that Democrats are on a "partisan witch hunt."
Clinton in Iowa
Meanwhile, Democratic candidate Hillary Rodham Clinton returned to Iowa to ramp up her campaign's volunteer network.
Clinton was to meet with about 50 volunteers and campaign organizers in Mason City. The event was being hosted by Dean Genth and Gary Swenson, who were active supporters of Obama when he defeated Clinton in the 2008 Iowa caucuses.
Clinton's two-day swing through Iowa marks her second trip to the state since she started her campaign last month. Today, she'll head to Cedar Falls, where she'll begin outlining proposals for boosting small businesses.
Information for this article was contributed by Bill Barrow, Melinda Deslatte, Jill Colvin, Steve Peoples, Todd Richmond, Rebecca Santana and Julie Pace of The Associated Press.
A Section on 05/19/2015