NEW YORK — Lindsey Graham’s introduction of American political icon John McCain during tonight’s opening session of the Republican National Convention will be short and sweet.

That’s by design.

Organizers of the GOP convention have limited Graham to 300 words.

“One thing about Republicans: They run a tight convention. There’ll be no Al Sharptons delivering a 30-minute speech,” said Graham, referring to the New York minister’s rambling message at the Democratic convention in Boston last month.

Still, for Graham, South Carolina’s junior U.S. senator, those 300 words offer an opportunity in the national spotlight.

McCain is the closest thing in American politics to a national hero, and Graham is one of his biggest admirers and closest friends.

McCain, the U.S. senator from Arizona who unsuccessfully challenged George W. Bush for the GOP presidential nomination in 2000, asked Graham to introduce him for his 10 p.m. speech to the convention.

The choice was easy, McCain said. “Lindsey is a trusted friend and colleague. He’s a rising star in our party and the Senate.”

McCain, a Navy pilot who spent more than five years in a North Vietnamese prison during the Vietnam war, became good friends with Graham during the 2000 campaign.

Graham, then an Upstate congressman, said he was drawn to McCain’s campaign without knowing him.

“He asked me to support him, which I did,” said Graham, a Seneca native. “Over time, we became close friends.”

PUSHING THE ENVELOPE

Graham’s support of McCain’s presidential bid didn’t sit well with longtime party regulars, who raised doubts about McCain’s GOP credentials and loyalty.

Afterward, they wanted to punish Graham.

In 2002, the White House tried to recruit an opponent for Graham in the GOP primary for the U.S. Senate but could find no takers. Graham went on to defeat Democrat Alex Sanders for the Senate seat held by Strom Thurmond for almost a half-century.

“I like to be considered an agent of change,” said Graham. “And so does John. He pushes the envelope to try to get things done.”

Graham said McCain “can be very tough to deal with. He takes disagreements very harshly because he’s so passionate about what he believes in. Most people like to be liked. Not John. He has this willingness not to be liked.”

Graham said he is like that at times, too. “It’s not fun taking on your party, but it’s the only way you change things.”

He has been on the state GOP’s case lately, scolding it for not doing a better job reaching out to minorities.

“I believe the Republican Party can never reach its potential in South Carolina until it taps into the talent of the whole state, and we’ve done a poor job at doing that,” he said in an interview last week.

While Graham said he “couldn’t have a better friend in the Senate than John McCain,” the two do not always agree.

“Absolutely not,” Graham said. “The key to our friendship is respect.”

McCain is admired by voters in both parties. A poll taken last spring showed Americans viewing McCain favorably by more than a 2-to-1 margin. Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry also tried to recruit the maverick Republican as his running mate.

‘IT STILL HURTS’

In the 2000 GOP presidential contest, McCain handily beat Bush in New Hampshire. He then came to South Carolina, where the Republican establishment and Christian conservatives supported Bush.

The campaign turned nasty in the Palmetto State. Voters got negative phone messages about McCain, and Bush won the GOP’s primary, with 53 percent of the vote to McCain’s 42 percent.

McCain has not gotten over that primary completely: “It still hurts.”

Graham, too, was hurt.

“It left a bad taste in my mouth,” he said, condemning what he called “slash-and-burn politics” resulting from “the sickness of the system.”

Four years later, however, McCain supports Bush, even campaigning with his onetime bitter rival.

At the same time, the senator from Arizona continues to pick fights with a political system that has turned off many Americans, most recently denouncing ads that questioned the military record of Democrat Kerry.

“I think until his dying day, his last breath, John will speak his mind about what’s best for the country,” Graham said. “That’s a good attribute.”