Graham touts efforts to approve Keystone XL in new ad

Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) is touting his energy chops in statewide TV and radio ads released Monday.

The ads, boasting Graham’s push for the Keystone XL pipeline and drilling, come with less than one month left before Graham faces off with six Tea Party-affiliated Republican candidates in South Carolina’s primary election.

{mosads}In the 30-second video ad, “Pipeline,” former U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins praises Graham for being the first U.S. senator to visit the oil sands in Canada.

“Every drop of oil we get from Canada is one less drop we have to get from countries in the Middle East, countries that don’t like us.  Lindsey Graham understood that before most people understood it,” Wilkins, a former South Carolina state House Speaker, says in the TV ad. 

The 60-second radio ad, also released on Monday, opens to the sound of gunfire in a war zone as the narrator asserts that “terrorism is on the rebound.”

The voice goes on to state that despite the increase in terrorism, the U.S. continues to import nearly $400 billion a year in foreign oil.

Graham blasts the administration in the ad, stating the U.S. is a nation without a rational energy policy, arguing for expanded oil and gas drilling, and construction of the Keystone XL pipeline to offset imports from foreign countries that aren’t friendly with the U.S.

While Graham may be one of the safer GOP incumbents facing a primary challenge, it could be a tough battle for the senator, who needs 50 percent of the vote in the primary to avoid a risky runoff election. Still, he’s approached the mark in recent polls and is facing off against a lackluster field of multiple candidates who haven’t been able to build significant support.