The winner of the other Republican debate

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has the lowest poll numbers in the Republican race, possibly because of his main campaign promise.

As Graham puts it: “If I’m president of the United States we’re going to send more ground forces into Iraq, because we have to.”

Related: David Boze’s take on the debate

It’s not a popular position and yet, he was the hit of the consolation debate Wednesday night at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library.

Graham’s been in the army reserve for 30 years and served in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was in a support position, not in combat, but he traveled extensively and he knows the place. The audience seemed to appreciate his reality checks. On immigration, for example, he argued that bringing in more legal immigrants doesn’t hurt the safety net &#8212 it’s the only way to save it.

“In 1950, there were 16 workers for every retiree. In 20 years, there’s going to be two, and you’re going to have 80 million baby boomers like me retire en masse, wanting a Social Security check,” he said. “Let’s create a rational, legal immigration system because we have a declining working force.”

“Strom Thurmond had four kids after he was 67. If you’re not willing to do that, we better come up with a new legal immigration system,” Graham added.

He also argued that, like the president, whose library hosted the debate, you have to work with the other side to get results.

“Ronald Reagan did a couple of really big things that we should all remember,” Graham said. “He sat down with Tip O’Neill, the most liberal guy in the entire House. They started drinking together &#8212 that’s the first thing I’m going to do as president, we are going to drink more.”

The audience loved that. Plus, in the right context, it might also solve the reproduction problem.