Jim Webb, a former Virginia governor, was running for the Democratic nomination. Now he’s probably not. We should all feel overwhelmingly neutral about this.
Here are the facts you need to know: Webb was doing incredibly poorly–polling at about 1 percent. He did participate in the first Democratic debate, but the only two things that people appear to remember about his performance is that he kept complaining about not getting enough time to talk, and he had a vaguely uncomfortable answer about killing a man while fighting in Vietnam to the question “who is the enemy you’re most proud of?” Yesterday, the media was vaguely interested in the reports that he may drop out of the race and launch an Independent bid. But today, the buzz is that Webb is going to drop out of the race altogether and “mull his options.”
He’s expected to hold a press conference later today to explain his decision to the public. Whether anyone will watch who isn’t a political reporter or stuck in a doctor’s waiting room and can’t figure out how to change the station is unclear.
Webb is almost certain to rail against the Democratic party and the media for not supporting him–an argument he’s been making for a while. For example, he claimed the Democratic debate on CNN was rigged, saying: “It’s very difficult to win a debate when you don’t have the opportunity to speak the same amount of time on issues as the other two did.” He also criticized the DNC, for embracing Hillary Clinton and not aiding the other Democratic candidates.
In the end, this is sort of a shame. Webb is further right-center than the other Democratic candidates in the field. He should have been a legitimate candidate (at least more legitimate than the pretty insane Lincoln Chafee) who forced the leading candidates to talk about issues that may not have come up otherwise. Instead, he came across as uninteresting and whiny.
So, Jim Webb joins the “Scott Walker List of Candidates Who Didn’t Do Anything Interesting Until They Dropped Out.” Whether he eventually re-joins the race as a Independent is essentially irrelevant–he’s not going to suddenly inspire a wave of voters or donors by changing his party affiliation from D to I. So cheers to Jim Webb–the Democratic field is about to get a little less crowded, but honestly, it doesn’t really matter in the slightest.