VA Democrat Jim Webb Forms Exploratory Committee Gearing Up For 2016 Run

He may have picked a bad time to do so, but former Democratic Sen. Jim Webb (D-VA announced Thursday via Twitter he is leaning toward running for president. Webb took the first step in becoming a serious challenge to Hillary Rodham Clinton.

He announced he has formed an exploratory committee in a message posted from his Twitter account late Wednesday, making him the first candidate of either of the two major political parties to take the initial official step for the White House.

“A strong majority of Americans agree that we are at a serious crossroads,” Webb wrote in a message posted to a website for his committee with a 14-minute video address attached. “In my view the solutions are not simply political, but those of leadership. I learned long ago on the battlefields of Vietnam that in a crisis, there is no substitute for clear-eyed leadership.”

The response from fellow-Democrats, including Clinton ally Donna Brazile, was positive. Of course, Brazile comes from an era of the Democratic Party that is — or, at least, pretends to be — far less radical than the hard left core representing the party today.

What is unclear is whether the Democratic Party, with its drastic move to the hard left following the midterm election, still has a place for a moderate Democrat like Webb. The field Webb would join would almost certainly include Vice President Joe Biden, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley (whose deep unpopularity largely led to a Republican Larry Hogan being election), and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described “socialist Democrat” running as an independent.

But, Washington, the buzz is dominated by hard leftist Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). If Democrats are practical in 2016, which the evidence suggests they likely will not be, Webb would make for a strong viable candidate.