While his positions on immigration and climate change might land Lindsey Graham outside the mainstream among Republican presidential hopefuls, the South Carolina senator says he’s got solid majorities of GOP primary voters in his corner. Add to that his years crafting a distinctly hawkish foreign policy — a favored position in early primary states — and Graham has no problem envisioning a good run in what is already a burgeoning field of candidates.

That’s despite the fact that Graham, 59, hardly appears on anyone’s presidential radar yet, even though he’s made three trips to New Hampshire in recent weeks amid a flurry of high-profile speeches that have included provocative charges leveled at fellow Republicans.

In an exclusive interview with The Colorado Statesman, Graham said on Tuesday that he’s working to put together his finance team and should know whether he’ll be able to raise enough money within another month. “I’m more likely than not to run,” he said.

“I think the message is a good message,” Graham said. “As national security becomes more important in people’s minds, I think that benefits my candidacy. It’s the No. 1 issue in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina right now.”’

In recent weeks, three of Graham’s Republican Senate colleagues, Ted Cruz of Texas, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Marco Rubio of Florida have officially launched their presidential campaigns. Waiting in the wings are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and a raft of other potential contenders.

Calling Colorado “one of the ultimate prizes of the 2016 race,” Graham said the state’s growing Hispanic population will be key to a GOP victory, but that the same old approach won’t cut it. “I hope that we can find a Republican that can repair some of the damage we’ve done on immigration,” he said.

“I think immigration has hurt us with the Hispanic community, the way we’ve handled the issue,” Graham said. “The nominee of the party needs to embrace national immigration reform. ‘Self deportation’ is not going to work, and I think that hurt us last time.” Republicans, he added, have to “chose our words wisely.”

According to polls, Graham said, his centrist position on immigration wins support from some 65 percent of the Republican primary voters in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina. That hefty majority, he said, “would support a pathway to citizenship if you first secured your borders, increased legal immigration, control who got a job, require people to pay taxes, pay a fine and not cut in line. The people who are opposed, I respect their views, but self deportation won’t work. I think the nominee of the party has to resist the temptation to pander.”

Graham, who has long argued that the GOP needs to grow — “We’re not going to be the party of angry white guys,” he said a few years back at an angry town hall in South Carolina — maintained that appealing to younger voters requires straight talk about the climate.

“Among young people, we’ve got to show that we’ll be the party that will save young Americans from having the Baby Boomers wipe out Social Security and Medicare,” Graham said. “What I’m going to talk about is national security, keeping the war over there so it doesn’t come here. But younger Americans care about the environment. I believe climate change is real. I just want a business solution to the problem that will create jobs and not destroy the economy,” he said, adding that a cap-and-trade approach will destroy the economy.

“I believe that a lower-carbon economy can be achieved by creating jobs,” Graham said, adding that the country will depend on fossil fuels for a while, which is why he supports building the Keystone XL pipeline. “Every barrel of oil we can buy from our friends in Canada, every liter of gas we find in our own backyard makes us more energy independent. Last year we spent $400 billion buying fossil fuels from people in the Mid East who do not like us. I’d like to break that cycle. I’d like to do two things at once: find more and use less.”

Calling the three announced candidates “very young,” Graham said that Cruz, Paul and Rubio would all have to prove they have the background and experience to lead on the world stage — he added that Cruz would also have to demonstrate he’s got the right “temperament” — but singled out Paul’s hands-off national security views.

“Rand Paul, his foreign policy is sort of the outlier in the Republican field. I think that’s going to be his biggest problem. In many ways, a libertarian foreign policy is less muscular than leading from behind.”

Graham stressed his position pushing for congressional review of the administration’s nuclear deal with Iran. “The idea of Congress not looking at a deal regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions is just hard to imagine because of the consequences of the deal,” he said. “Again, we’ve created the sanctions, we should have a say about whether or not they’re relieved.”

Calling the outlines of the deal “very confusing” — the Obama administration and Iranian leaders describe it in contradictory terms — Graham faulted the President for coming up with a bad deal. “I just think Barack Obama is the worst possible negotiator because people in the region don’t fear him nor do they respect him, and that makes it hard to get a good deal in the Mid East,” he said.

Graham said he plans to return to Colorado in the next month or so if his campaign is under way by then.

— Ernest@coloradostatesman.com