Former Sen. Jim Webb of Virginia, who plans to give a major speech at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday, appears poised to join the growing list of potential challengers to presumptive Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton in 2016.
The former Secretary of the Navy and highly-decorated Vietnam War veteran, who has already made his initial foray into Iowa and is reportedly mulling a trip to New Hampshire, has refused to rule out a possible presidential candidacy.
Veteran political journalist Al Hunt described Webb as “Hillary Rodham Clinton’s worst nightmare.”
“A decorated war hero — he received the Navy Cross for ‘extraordinary heroism’ — and author of nine books,” wrote Hunt, “he would run principally on the issues most likely to cut Mrs. Clinton: opposition to an interventionist-centered foreign policy and softness toward Wall Street.”
“He would bring more authenticity to these two issues than any other would-be Clinton challenger,” added Hunt.
Hunt is right. A Webb candidacy isn’t really that far-fetched.
In fact, while in Iowa last month, the 68-year-old Webb sounded like somebody who’s seriously thinking about running — at one point telling a local PBS television audience that he was “raised to lead.”
He also recognizes that many Iowans aren’t really interested in a mere coronation — the process should entail more than that — and have a pent-up desire for an alternative to the party’s frontrunner.
Deflecting a question about the former Secretary of State’s “inevitability,” Webb responded in the interview by saying that he would like to see more Democrats visiting Iowa.
“We need to stimulate debate about where the country is,” he said — and where it’s headed.
Regarded by some as the last of the Reagan Democrats, Webb also made it clear that he’s still very much interested in public service. He also intimated that he’s no stranger to long odds, quickly recalling how he fought from 33 points behind to defeat heavily-favored incumbent Republican Sen. George Allen in Virginia’s 2006 U.S. Senate race — a widely-watched contest that he entered relatively late and with no money or campaign organization to speak of.
Webb declined to run for a second term in 2012 and was succeeded in the U.S. Senate by fellow Democrat Tim Kaine, a former governor and past chairman of the Democratic National Committee.
Asked to assess Hillary Clinton’s performance as Secretary of State, the former Virginia senator — an unusually reflective politician who measures his words carefully — simply smiled, pausing momentarily before saying, “I think there’s time to have that discussion — later.”
In addition to the former First Lady, others actively considering possible bids for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination include Vice President Joe Biden, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, Brian Schweitzer, the colorful former governor of Montana, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont — an independent who might tap into the deepening disenchantment among many on the Democratic left, those who have been growingly increasingly disappointed in the Obama Presidency, an administration viewed as far too friendly to Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan and other major financial institutions. Moreover, a number of progressive Democratic activists have been urging Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren — the bane of Wall Street — to enter the race.
If it wasn’t for Hillary’s 50-point lead in the polls, the race would be wide open.
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