After expressing displeasure over how was treated in the first Democratic presidential debate last week, former Virginia senator Jim Webb is now openly mulling an independent run for the White House.
“Jim Webb to Consider Independent Run,” read a press release sent out late on Monday by Webb’s long-shot campaign. The brief e-mail asked reporters to attend a press conference tomorrow afternoon at DC’s National Press Club, “to discuss [Webb’s] candidacy, the campaign, and his views of the political parties in the current election cycle.”
A one-term senator from Virginia who chose not to seek reelection in 2012, Webb departs from the Democratic Party orthodoxy on several key issues. He supports gun rights, is an advocate for the Keystone Pipeline and other energy projects, and is a critic of the Obama administration’s Iran deal. Many Democratic voters were uncomfortable with his boast during the debate last week that he’d killed an enemy soldier during his service in Vietnam, prompting his son to write an op-ed explaining the remark.
For his part, Webb visibly seethed at the treatment he received during the debate. On multiple occasions, he interrupted other candidates to complain that he was not given enough time to answer questions, and said he was being deliberately ignored by his rivals for the nomination. Last Friday, he said CNN had “rigged” the debate process in favor of front-runners Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Hovering just above a 1-percent average in national Democratic polls, Webb has a narrow path to the White House. But the former senator surpasses both Lincoln Chafee and Martin O’Malley in support, and he is still popular in his home state of Virginia, a key swing state and a must-win for both parties in 2016. If mounts an independent run, that alone will ensure his continued relevance as a potential spoiler.
— Brendan Bordelon is a political reporter for National Review.
#share#