When President Barack Obama needed a big win in Congress, it was U.S. House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn who wrangled the votes necessary to win passage of the president's massive health care reform bill.
And when Obama wants to find a Republican with an independent streak to build a bridge between conservatives and Democrats on illegal immigration reform, energy independence or detainee matters, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham is the one he has called on.
Not since the days of U.S. Sens. Strom Thurmond and Fritz Hollings has South Carolina commanded this kind of influence inside the Beltway. While the state might not be as powerful as it was in those days in Washington, Graham and Clyburn have put the small state back on the political map.
Clyburn, the third highest-ranking Democrat in the House, and Graham, an outspoken Republican, provide South Carolina a unique advantage for a small state.
Thomas Mann, a congressional scholar and senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said Clyburn and Graham earned standing by building expertise and gaining seniority.
Clyburn "is a widely respected and well-liked member who is part of (House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi's leadership team," Mann said. And, he said, Graham's independent streak is refreshing.
"Unlike most of his colleagues, he is willing to talk to people on the other side of the aisle and look for agreement rather than wage a constant campaign," Mann said. "... It is refreshing to have someone who is willing to try to work differences out. That is not part of the Republican strategy these days."
Part of the influence Clyburn and Graham exercise comes from longevity, a by-product of South Carolina's penchant for re-electing incumbents.
But Clyburn and Graham have mastered a willingness to work toward compromise while working to maintain the faith of the people who put them in office. It's been a more difficult balancing act for Graham, who has come under fire from those who think he's strayed from the party's conservative tenets.
Marching to his own beat
Graham carries himself like a military officer, crisp and with purpose, and he talks like a diplomat but likes to joke.
Graham has been a go-to person for the Obama administration when it comes to legal issues surrounding suspected terrorists and the detainees at Guantánamo Bay.
"I am working with the administration right now to try to find some reforms of the Miranda warning," Graham said. "You need to be gathering intelligence when we capture a terrorist suspect, not reading them their rights. But we need to do it within the rule of law."
Graham, like Hollings and Thurmond before him, makes decisions that aren't always popular with his own party. For example, Graham's bipartisan approach to energy policy, immigration and the Guantánamo Bay detainees has angered many Republicans. Some conservative Republicans tried to unseat him two years ago but were unable to mount an effective primary opposition. Graham was elected to the Senate in 2002 after serving in the House since 1994. He is a member of the Air Force Reserves.
Graham said he makes a good partner with Clyburn.
Still, the two often find themselves on different sides on major legislation such as health care reform and the federal stimulus package. Graham said he'll be bipartisan until it's time to "throw partisan elbows," and he's done so in his work with Obama.
Remembering his roots
Clyburn is in regular contact with the president, even getting a call from Obama the night Clyburn delivered the votes to pass the health care law in the House.
The vote wrapped up one last intense week that Clyburn worked to win the votes. He had spent 16-hour days meeting with other congressmen, held strategy sessions with top-ranking Democrats and worked the TV circuit.
Clyburn is gregarious and fills up a room. He weaves history lessons into his stories. He told the Washington Post that if he had a mascot, it would be a turtle because they're "slow and methodical."
Pelosi, in a recent interview with McClatchy newspapers, called him a rock for calmness under pressure.
Clyburn said he serves with a purpose.
"I am making this system work for people who never had it to work for them," he said. "... I think that's what I am destined to do. And I am going to do it come hell or high water."
Walter Edgar, a historian and a University of South Carolina professor, and Mann, the Brookings scholar, said that 5th District U.S. Rep. John Spratt, a York Democrat, and U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint, a Republican, also contribute to South Carolina's growing political power structure, but in different ways.
Spratt is the senior member of the state delegation, elected in 1982, and is chairman of the House Budget Committee.
"It's been said about Spratt that he is the only one who reads and understands every bill," Edgar said.
DeMint, elected in 2004, is a major player in the conservative ranks. But, Mann said, his influence doesn't translate throughout Congress because he hasn't shown the ability to persuade people outside of his ideology.
