http://www.islandpacket.com/front/story/95690.html

Graham challenger stumps against illegal immigration during island visit




The effort to replace Sen. Lindsey Graham with a fiercer opponent of illegal immigration started to gain strength Monday when Columbia native Buddy Witherspoon brought his campaign for the Republican nomination to Hilton Head Island.

Witherspoon, a dentist and three-time Republican delegate to the electoral college, is seeking to replace the influential first-term incumbent, who has been the target of harsh intra-party criticism for his support of the illegal-immigration reform measures.

Witherspoon kicked off his campaign last month and made his first visit to Hilton Head on Monday to speak to the First Monday Republican Lunch Club at Aunt Chilada’s. He set out right away to distinguish himself as a candidate with no tolerance for illegal immigration and painted Graham as being soft on the issue.

“I feel like Lindsey Graham is too liberal for South Carolina and no longer represents mainstream South Carolinians,â€