First woman Citadel graduate primaries Sen. Lindsay Graham over Obamacare, Syrian war

Nancy Mace, a Charleston, South Carolina business leader and first-ever woman graduate of the Citadel, has announced that she is running in the South Carolina primary against current South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham (R). According to the Washington Post's "Post Politics" blog, Mace and South Carolina state Sen. Lee Bright are both entering the race to run against Graham.

In a diary at the right-wing website RedState.com, Mace riffed off recent comments by Paul about Libertarian Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who some see as a new avatar of the Republican Party's 2016 hopes. Graham said of Paul's suggested cuts to the defense industry and surveillance programs that in "Rand Paul’s world, you have almost no defense against terrorists.”

Hewing to a Libertarian-flavored foreign policy line, Mace wrote at RedState, "In Senator Graham’s world, arming al-Qaeda in Syria is a good idea."

Referring to Graham's statements that he doesn't mind if Verizon hands his phone records over to the NSA, Mace wrote, "In Senator Graham’s world, your rights as an American citizen are granted by the ruling political class and not by our Creator. In Senator Graham’s world, government should always be trusted but never the American citizen."

"In Senator Graham’s world," she insisted, "the Constitution doesn’t exist."

Graham has become a target for Libertarians and tea party activists because of his support of a comprehensive immigration reform bill and his willingness to confirm President Barack Obama's nominees to cabinet positions. Hard-line conservatives have also taken issue with Graham's handling of the Affordable Care Act, which they do not believe he has done enough to oppose.

Normally a crowded primary field is good for an incumbent, but the Post reported that South Carolina has a 50 percent rule, under which run-off elections are held if no candidate receives at least 50 percent of the vote.

[image via NancyMace.net]