Graham Announces That He'll Announce He's Running

The Republican Party's presidential candidate field is already pretty crowded with established politicians and political newcomers alike. On Monday, the 2016 election field just got its latest GOP candidate — well, almost. While appearing on CBS This Morning, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham announced he will run for president in 2016. However, he won't make his formal announcement until early June, when we predict we'll be officially exhausted by this endless parade of possible presidents.

Graham was given the opportunity to speed up the process Monday morning. Instead, he chose to diffuse the anticipation by telling us exactly when and where he'll join Senators Marco Rubio, Rand Paul, and Ted Cruz, businesswoman Carly Fiorina, Dr. Ben Carson and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in the 2016 face-off against former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton or her only challenger thus far, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. Phew. Did you get all of that?

On June 1, in his hometown of Central, South Carolina, Graham said he will "make an announcement," to which we're all invited to come. But "spend money when you do," the senator added.

Yet the South Carolina Republican, who's a known critic of the Tea Party, has his reasons for running, and they may or may not have to do with the foreign policy inexperience of his GOP challengers. He told CBS on Monday:

I'm running because I think the world is falling apart. I've been more right than wrong on foreign policy. It's not the fault of others, or their lack of this or that, that makes me want to run. It's my ability, in my own mind, to be a good commander in chief, and to make Washington work. ... In my view, Democrats and Republicans work together too little, and I would try to change that if I was president. And when it comes to radical Islam, I would go after them before they come back here again.

Well, now that we got Lindsey Graham out of the way, which politicians are still eying the 2016 presidential race? Yes, the announcements are (unfortunately) not over yet. Former New York Gov. George Pataki is expected to be the next politician to make his big announcement. The Republican who led the liberal stronghold of New York for 12 years will likely enter the GOP presidential candidate field on May 28.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who ran for president in 2012, is also expected to make another go at the Oval Office. Perry plans to announce his candidacy on June 4 in Dallas. Perry made the announcement over the weekend via his wife, Anita.

Meanwhile, it's all but certain that former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, son of George H. W. Bush and brother to George W. Bush, will enter the race and become perhaps the biggest concern for Hillary Clinton. Yet Bush's announcement is still "TBD" at this point.

On the Democratic side, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley has scheduled his official announcement for May 30. As for the rest of the Democrats, most have seemed content with the current Clinton-Sanders match-up — and no one else has set a formal announcement at this time.

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