EX-SENATOR WEBB JOINS DEM FIELD
Former Virginia Sen. Jim Webb on Thursday joined the Democratic field, seeking the presidential nomination. He is the fifth candidate so far in the Democratic race.
Jim Webb, a former Virginia senator and Reaganera secretary of the Navy, announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination Thursday, bringing his anti-war credentials to a field in what many consider a long-shot campaign for the presidency.
Mr. Webb’s announcement caught some political observers by surprise. He was the first from either party to form a presidential exploratory committee but has been barely visible since.
“I understand the odds, particularly in today’s political climate, where fair debate is so often drowned out by huge sums of money,” Mr. Webb wrote in an announcement posted Thursday on his website. “I know that more than one candidate in this process intends to raise at least a billion dollars — some estimates run as high as 2 billion dollars — in direct and indirect financial support,” he wrote. “Highly paid political consultants are working to shape the 'messaging’ of every major candidate.”
Mr. Webb has been a persistent critic of the Iraq war, adding another voice that could put former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the presumed Democratic campaign front-runner, on the defensive in debates because of her 2002 vote in the Senate authorizing the use of force in Iraq. He warned in 2002, before the war began, “Those who are pushing for a unilateral war in Iraq know full well that there is no exit strategy if we invade.”
While he is likely to be a part of the Democratic presidential debates that will feature Ms. Clinton, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, in many ways his resume is better suited to a third-party run because of his independent streak.
Just more than a week ago, Mr. Webb staked out ground expressing some support of the Confederate battle flag after nine black people were killed at an African-American church Bible study meeting in Charleston, S.C. A white man who had posted online photos of himself with Confederate flags has been charged in the attack.