--- title: Meet the Three Best Friends Who All Ran for President description: Sens. John McCain, Joe Lieberman and Lindsey Graham are close friends who have each run a presidential campaign. canonical: https://time.com/3825302/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-joe-lieberman/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-20T20:33:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T05:04:32.308Z article:section: Politics og:title: Meet the Three Best Friends Who All Ran for President og:description: They call them the "Three Amigos." og:url: https://time.com/3825302/lindsey-graham-john-mccain-joe-lieberman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt239b2066b937b89a/6987eb7c3c163960b4455895/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-lindsey-graham-presidential-candidate-election-15.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Joseph Lieberman, John McCain, Lindsey Graham og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet the Three Best Friends Who All Ran for President twitter:description: They call them the "Three Amigos." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt239b2066b937b89a/6987eb7c3c163960b4455895/john-mccain-joe-lieberman-lindsey-graham-presidential-candidate-election-15.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Meet the Three Best Friends Who All Ran for President > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=21c7d1e7-023e-447b-887e-59d03ade2d15&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Apr 20, 2015 8:33 PM UTC  Graham is now readying his own bid for the Republican nomination in 2016. Graham is now readying his own bid for the Republican nomination in 2016. Alex Brandon—AP by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Apr 20, 2015 8:33 PM UTC  During their time in the Senate together, Arizona Sen. John McCain, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham became close friends. Paul J. Richards—AFP/Getty Images  The three Senators, shown here in 2009, often appeared at each other's press conferences. Chris Kleponis—Getty Images  Shown here on a trip to Baghdad in 2006, the Senators were known as "the three amigos," after a 1980s comedy starring Steve Martin, Chevy Chase and Martin Short. Khalid Mohammed—Pool/Corbis  Though they have different temperaments, the three Senators have an easygoing rapport that's clear when they are together, as in this 2008 walk-through of the GOP national convention stage. Sacramento Bee/MCT/Getty Images  The three amigos, shown here at a White House summit in 2009, have something else in common: They've all run for president. Kevin Lamarque—Reuters  Lieberman ran for vice president in 2000 alongside Al Gore then mounted his own unsuccessful bid for the nomination in 2004. Jason Reed—Reuters/Corbis  McCain made an unsuccessful primary run in 2000 and then became the GOP nominee in 2008, where he was often accompanied by Lieberman and Graham on the campaign trail. Mauricio Duenas—AFP/Getty Images  The three Senators watched the Super Bowl in a hotel lobby bar during the 2008 campaign. Charles Dharapak—AP  Graham and Lieberman were with McCain as he barnstormed in the final 24 hours of his 2008 presidential campaign. Ethan Miller—Getty Images  They even accompanied him on a campaign trip to Amman, Jordan, in 2008. Nasser Nasser—AP  Graham is now readying his own bid for the Republican nomination in 2016. Alex Brandon—AP  Though Lieberman is a Democrat-turned-independent and Graham and McCain are Republicans, the three Senators, shown here on a 2010 trip to Afghanistan, share similar views on a muscular foreign policy. Ahmad Masood—Reuters/Corbis  The three Senators, shown here laying a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, also share strong support for Israel. Yehuda Raizner—AFP/Getty Images  After Lieberman left the Senate in 2013, McCain and Graham, shown here greeting former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, continued to work together. Tom Williams—CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images  But they'll always be remembered as the "three amigos." Scott J. 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